"Karl Cooper" wrote in message
...
Interesting thread on the pprune tech log forum on a metar with
Beaufort code letters added in the remarks section.

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=228577

Seems a bit mix n' match and I assume bad practice? Jack?

btw SYCJ is Georgetown, Guyana.

Karl Cooper, Orkney

The best decode / encode page for the *American/US* format of the METAR
is at:-

http://www.mrx.net/weather/fmh1/fmh1ch12.htm

and from that, the following paragraph is relevant:....

c. Present weather coded in the body of the report as VC may
be further described, i.e., direction from the station, if known.
Weather phenomena beyond 10 statute miles of the point(s) of
observation shall be coded as distant (DSNT) followed by the
direction from the station. For example, precipitation of unknown
intensity within 10 statute miles east of the station would be
coded
as "VCSH E"; lightning 25 statute miles west of the station would
be
coded as "LTG DSNT W".

The problem with 'non-standard' abbreviations etc., (i.e. the Beaufort
letters used here) is that aviation weather broadcasts that are fully
automated tend to 'stumble' over the characters, and may corrupt either
that observation, or the following observation. As a meteorologist, I'm
all for adding anything useful to the codes - our current "slimmed down"
international version of the METAR is a joke as far as I am concerned,
and I feel that the US (and affiliates) do a lot better in this respect.

Martin.


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