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METARs are "Meteorological Aviation Reports" they are very much accurate since they are used by pilots (private and commercial) to plan their flights on an hourly basis. Isn't it awesome to have such a handy command-line tool? Just type Metar (and your nearest airport ICAO code) to get extremely accurate weater information right on your terminal window??that's AWESOME!! Learn more about METARs at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/METAR and/or https://flightplanning.navcanada.ca/cgi-bin/Fore-obs/metar.cgi (for Montreal airport) Whatever.. METARs are ---­­> coded-meteorological-hour-reports <--- you can have them in plain text on the metar websites OR by using the -d argument(for "decoded") after the airport ID (ex: metar -i cyul -d) which makes it a lot more easy to decipher... Although pilots usually read the ciphered one since it is quick and complete. Let's see what a coded METAR means: EX: CYUL 100500Z 21006KT 15SM FEW045 BKN060 BKN140 22/20 A2999 RMK SC2SC3AC2 SLP158 DENSITY ALT 900FT CYUL=ICAO code for Pier-Eliot-Trudeau Airport (Justin's father)(ICAO=international civil aviation organization) | 100500Z= the 10th of the month at 0500 Zulu time (UTC). because Montreal time is GMT-4 in the summer it means this hourly report was emitted at 0100 Time of Montreal (etc..) | 21006KT: wind, at the time of the observation, wind comes from 210 degrees magnetic at a speed of 6 knots | 15SM: the visibility is of 15 statute miles | FEW045: there is a layer of clouds at 4500 feet above ground that covers less than 3/8 of the sky(few) | BKN060: there is a layer of cloud at 6000 feet that covers about 5/8 of the sky(broken) | BKN140: and a layer at 14000 feet that covers about 5/8 of the sky(broken) (this part can say either SKC=sky clear FEW=few clouds BKN=broken OVC=overcast) refer to proper documentation. | then an interesting info: 22/20= temperature=22 celcius (that's the one you get on the weather channel) dew_point=20 (which is the temperature at which the air will get saturated in humidity->gives you an indication of cloud formation according to -2 celcius per 1000 feet of altitude) | A2999: the "altimeter setting" in inches of mercury, an indication of the air pressure. | followed by remarks that are additional informations on the current conditions. Note: Most weather stations are based at airports, which means METARS are extremely accurate reports on a very tight basis. now TAFs. by using the argument -f you will get the "Terminal Aerodrome Forecast" which is a very detailed forecast for a 24h period. Basically is uses the same codes as METARs plus a time periods related terminology.. for more info, use proper documentation (what a great advice) Thank you. Safe flight! this section by: hawkinsjohn609@gmail.com (pilot, electrician, and Linux enthusiast)