NAME

Geo::METARTAF - Decode METAR, SPECI, and TAF strings

SYNOPSIS

use strict;
use Geo::METARTAF;

my $t = new Geo::METARTAF;

$t->metar("CYVR 280200Z 09011KT 6SM -RA BR FEW006 OVC011 06/06 A2964 RMK ST2SC6 SLP039=");
or
$t->speci("CYVR 280240Z 08010KT 6SM BR FEW006 OVC010 06/06 A2962 RMK SF2SC6 SLP034=");
or
$t->taf("CYVR 280103Z 2801/2906 10012KT 6SM -RA BR SCT005 OVC025
         TEMPO 2801/2808 2SM SHRA BR BKN005 OVC025
         BECMG 2806/2808 12015G25KT
         FM280800 12015G25KT P6SM -RA SCT008 OVC030
         TEMPO 2808/2818 3SM -RA BR BKN008 OVC030
         FM281800 16018G28KT P6SM SCT030 OVC050
         TEMPO 2818/2906 6SM -SHRA BR OVC030
         BECMG 2900/2902 16012KT
         RMK NXT FCST BY 280300Z=");
or 
$t->decode("METAR CYHZ 280200Z 34007KT 15SM SKC M03/M04 A3027 RMK SLP261=");
or
$t->decode("TAF CYYT 272340Z 2800/2824 02012G22KT 1/2SM -DZ -RA FG VV002
            FM281200 01012KT 1/2SM FG VV002 
            PROB30 2812/2815 2SM -FZDZ BR
            FM281500 35012KT 2SM BR OVC004
            PROB30 2815/2821 1 1/2SM -FZDZ BR OVC003
            FM282300 30010KT 2SM BR OVC004
            PROB30 2823/2824 BKN003
            RMK NXT FCST BY 280600Z=");

print $t->as_string;
print $t->minimal;

ABSTRACT

Geo::METARTAF decodes aviation METAR, SPECI, and TAF weather code strings into English or, if you sub-class, some other language.

DESCRIPTION

METAR (Meteorological Aerodrome Report), SPECI (Special METAR), and TAF (Terminal Aerodrome Forecast) are ASCII strings containing codes describing the weather at airports and weather bureaus around the world.

This module attempts to decode these reports into a form of English that is (hopefully) more understandable than the reports themselves.

The decoded data is based on the Transport Canada AIM.

It is possible to sub-class the translation routines to enable translation to other langauages.

METHODS

new(%args)

Constructor for the class. Each weather announcement will need a new constructor.

If you sub-class the built-in English translation routines then you can pick this up by calling the constructor using:

my $t = Geo::METARTAF->new(decode_language => 'Geo::METARTAF::FR');

or whatever you decide to use.

decode(weather_string)

The main routine that decodes a weather string. It expects a string that begins with either the word METAR, SPECI, or TAF. It creates a decoded form of the weather string in the object.

If this method is unable to process the weather string, you can use the error method to get the reason.

metar(weather_string)

This simply adds METAR to the front of the string and calls decode().

speci(weather_string)

This simply adds SPECI to the front of the string and calls decode().

taf(weather_string)

This simply adds TAF to the front of the string and calls decode().

It makes very little difference to the decoding process which of these routines you use. It does, however, affect the output in that it will mark it as the appropriate type of report.

as_string

Returns the decoded weather report as a human readable string.

This is probably the simplest, and most likely, of the output options that you might want to use.

as_html

Returns the decoded weather report as an HTML table.

Classes are assigned to all of the table data elements allowing you to format the results using CSS styles.

minimal

Returns the (cleaned up) weather report. It is cleaned up in the sense that all whitespace is reduced to exactly one space character.

error

If decode() is unable to process the string, this method returns the reason.

ACCESSORS

icao()

Returns the ICAO code contained in the weather report

day()

Returns the day of the month of this report

time()

Returns the issue time of this report

valid_from()

Returns the time from which this report is valid for (if there is one).

valid_to()

Returns the time to which this report is valid for (if there is one).

visibility_dist()

Returns the minimum visibility, if present.

visibility_units()

Returns the units of the visibility information.

wind_dir()

Returns the wind direction in degrees, if present.

wind_speed()

Returns the wind speed.

wind_units()

Returns the units of wind speed.

wind_gusting()

Returns any wind gust speed. It is possible to have wind_speed() without gust information.

pressure()

Returns the altimeter setting, if present.

pressure_units()

Returns the units in which pressure() is measured.

temp()

Returns any outside air temperature present.

dewpoint()

Returns any dew point temperature present.

SEE ALSO

Geo::METAR and Geo::TAF

This module is a modified version of the Geo::TAF module created by Dirk Koopman

For an example of a weather forecast for a Canadian airport (CYHZ) see https://metar-taf.com/cyhz

AUTHOR

Peter Carter, pecarter@yahoo.ca

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

Copyright (c) 2025 by Peter Carter

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.