Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

2 Answers

Metar Understanding

Asked by: 3475 views Instrument Rating, Weather

Hi everyone my question regards the ending and beginning of precipitation as its listed in a metar. My confusion is the following. If a metar is issued at 1500Z and indicated RAB23 and it is now 1535Z does this mean that the precipitation began 23 minutes past the hour it was issued, which would make it 1523Z ? 

Could you give an example with a precipitation ending as well, SNE15.

Thank you!

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

2 Answers



  1. Russ Roslewski on Apr 11, 2015

    The METAR can’t predict future weather, so any precipitation reported has to be in the past. If the METAR was issued at 1555z (a more typical time for the report), then RAB23 would have to mean 1523Z. Similarly, RAB58 would have to mean 1458Z, since 1558Z would be in the future.

    +3 Votes Thumb up 3 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  2. Jake on Apr 17, 2015

    METARs are issued every hour +55 minutes or 5 minutes before the top of the hour. So if you see a METAR with RAB23 and the issued time is 1500 then the rain began at 1423. However you mention the current time of 1535 so most likely what is going to happen is a SPECI (updated METAR do to a significant change in the weather) is going to be issued when the rain began, in this case RAB23 or 1523. The same thing could then be concluded about your SNE15 example as well as a wind shift or rapidly rising or descending barometer.

    +1 Votes Thumb up 1 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes


The following terms have been auto-detected the question above and any answers or discussion provided. Click on a term to see its definition from the Dauntless Aviation JargonBuster Glossary.

Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.