Here’s a NOAA weather aviation app that is so much more. Not only does it provide comprehensive weather data– METAR and TAF- it also includes NOTAM updates, info on winds an temperature, and a route planning feature. A basic descriptive forecast is also included.
Take a few minutes at the beginning to set it up with your favorite stations. From then on out it will be intuitive. Your favorites list is your home page on this app. This provides you easy access to info on the stations that are most relevant to you.
Each listing includes a landing page with a map, geographical data (latitude, longitude, and altitude), sunset time, and a graphic display of the current weather. Tabs accessible from his landing page include METAR, TAF, NOTAM, winds, and forecast.
METAR from the last three or four hours are displayed. You may see all METAR data, including sky cover, horizontal visibility, wind speed and wind degrees. When recent METAR data from the station is not available, you’ll get a message saying so.
TAF data includes sky cover, horizontal visibility, wind degrees and wind speed for each forecast interval.
Under “Winds”, graphical wind representations from the World Area Forecast Center in Washington are presented. For when you don’t want to wade through the more technical METAR and TAF information, a basic forecast in plain English (with visuals) is also provided in the last tab.
You’ll get push notifications when new data is available for any of the stations in your favorites list.
There are a few general informational areas apart from the station-specific data. A news section includes updates from NOAA National Hurricane Center, the Weather Forecast, and the National Weather Service. If push notifications are on, you get extreme weather alerts.
Route Planner
The route planner allows you to map the best route between two or more airports and recommends potential refueling sites. The integration of this planner with the app’s aviation weather database allows you to easily check on visibility conditions and weather for every potential stop along your route.
All in all, this is robust NOAA weather app and worth downloading for anyone into aviation.
