What are TAFs in aviation?
The Terminal Area Forecast ( TAF ) is the official FAA forecast of aviation activity for U.S. airports. It contains active airports in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems ( NPIAS ) including FAA-towered airports, Federal contract-towered airports, non-federal towered airports, and non-towered airports.
Can you look up past Metars?
We offer online access to recent METAR and TAF reports—at least the last ninety days should always be available online—as well as our massive METAR and TAF archive, containing nearly every report for nearly every station in the world dating back to November 2008.
How many times a day are Metars issued?
The METAR only gives you a small snapshot in time. They are only good for an hour. They are usually refreshed around 55 past the hour. TAFs, on the other hand, cover a 24 to 30 hour period and they are published 6 times a day (0000, 0600, 1200, 1800).
What does TAFS stand for?
TAFS
| Acronym | Definition |
|---|---|
| TAFS | Treasury Appropriation Fund Symbol |
| TAFS | Terminal Forecasts |
| TAFS | Tactical Aerodrome Forecasts (US DoD) |
| TAFS | Theatre and Film Studies |
How long is TAFS valid?
24-hour
New TAF Format Routine TAFs are valid for a 24-hour period and issued four times daily: 00Z, 06Z, 12Z, and 18Z, and are amended (updated) as conditions require.
How are TAFS generated?
TAFs are issued every three hours for military airfields and some civil airfields and cover a period ranging from 3 hours to 30 hours. TAFs complement and use similar encoding to METAR reports. They are produced by a human forecaster based on the ground.
What are the 4 Change groups when dealing with TAFs?
Each TAF is valid for a 24-hour time period, and is updated four times a day at 0000Z, 0600Z, 1200Z, and 1800Z. The TAF utilizes the same descriptors and abbreviations as used in the METAR report.