METAR question

[MAviationYT]

Hello guys. Just had a quick question about the METAR at airports. How accurate is it and how often does the METAR get updated?

[KPIT]

METARs are reported once per hour generally, and should be fairly accurate in the majority of cases. They may also be issued as a “SPECI” whenever there is a significant change in conditions within the hour. In the context of Infinite Flight they should be essentially perfectly accurate since the weather is based upon them.

[MAviationYT]

Ok. Thank you so much. Just wondering if they were very accurate. 😊

[KPIT]

In the real world, they can be a touch hit or miss. I have definitely seen some not very representative of the actual conditions. That will vary by whether or not they are automated or manually corrected (generally, is the airport towered or untowered) and the condition of the equipment used to measure the conditions.

As I said though, in Infinite Flight, they should be extremely accurate since the weather is based on them and not the other way around.

[MAviationYT]

Ok. Thank you for the clarification 😁

[CanadianNorth]

I’m an actual Observer/communicator in CYLK
The North Canada have CARS (Community Aerodrome Radio Station) We provide accurate weather observations from ground :
Visibility, wind, Ceiling, weather phenomenons if any, temperature and most Important the altimeter
If any differences in weather we can’t see or provide are done with PIREPS. Also Open/close Flight plans for pilots. Unfortunately we don’t control traffic but. ADVISE only!
Lutselk’e (CYLK) has daily flights and more so I keep busy!

[American367]

What is a METAR?

[schyllberg]

Simple Google search :)

METAR

[American367]

Danke shon

[adit]

@CanadianNorth

I’m an actual Observer/communicator in CYLK

Straight from the horse’s mouth, that’s pretty cool.

[Kstate]

METAR’s are only “accurate” the second they are issued. They advise conditions within a 5NM range around the airport.

[adit]

About METAR reliability and the following comments:

@MAviationYT

How accurate is it and how often does the METAR get updated?

@KPIT

In the context of Infinite Flight they should be essentially perfectly accurate since the weather is based upon them.

In infinite flight, real world weather is updated how often, say, every 30 minutes?

Because weather conditions can change from benign flying conditions to hazardous within such a time frame, the use of METARs to compliment a bigger picture of the weather, rather than giving a high degree of standalone confidence, I think applies in IF as it does irl.

I assume each time the weather is updated, there is minimum transition time to see the new effects in terms of, say, winds and turbulence(?)

When a storm rolls in, IF’s METAR may deteriorate rapidly like irl.