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FIS-B Weather

The FIS-B Weather tile shows the textual weather products that come over the same UDP feed as ADS-B traffic — METAR, TAF, PIREPs, AIRMETs, SIGMETs, NOTAMs, winds aloft.

For graphical weather (NEXRAD precipitation), see NEXRAD overlay.

What you'll see

Products are grouped into kinds and sorted newest-first:

  • METAR — current observations (KZPH, KORL, etc.)
  • TAF — forecast for the next 24 hours
  • PIREP — pilot reports
  • AIRMET — area-wide advisories (turbulence, icing, IFR)
  • SIGMET — significant weather (severe turbulence, hail, etc.)
  • Winds Aloft — forecast winds at altitude levels
  • NOTAM — notices to airmen

Each entry shows the raw text plus a parsed summary (station, time, key fields). You can tap an entry to see the full text.

Plain English mode

Aeronautical weather is dense — METAR KZPH 290335Z 33017KT 10SM FEW250 17/12 A2983 — useful when you know the codes, less so when you don't. Tap the Plain English toggle near the top to convert to a friendly explanation:

"Wind 330° at 17 knots. Visibility 10 statute miles. Few clouds at 25,000 ft. Temperature 17°C, dewpoint 12°C. Altimeter 29.83 inHg."

The toggle covers METAR and TAF (TAF includes per-period forecasts: "Becoming overcast at 8:00 PM").

The decoder handles:

  • Wind: direction + speed + gust + variability
  • Visibility: SM with fractions
  • Weather phenomena (RA, SN, FZ, BR, etc.)
  • Sky cover (FEW / SCT / BKN / OVC + base)
  • Temp / dewpoint
  • Altimeter (inHg + computed millibars)
  • TAF forecast periods (FM, BECMG, TEMPO, PROB)

How fresh is the data?

FIS-B is broadcast on a rolling cycle. Different products refresh at different rates:

Product Typical refresh
METAR 30–60 minutes
TAF every few hours
AIRMET / SIGMET when issued + every 30 min
Winds aloft every 6 hours
NOTAM varies

The age is shown next to each entry — a METAR from 12 minutes ago is fresh; one from 2 hours ago might be stale (look for a more recent obs first).

Coverage

FIS-B coverage requires altitude — typically you need to be above 3000 ft AGL for reliable reception. On the ground at most airports you'll receive nothing or only the local METAR; airborne, coverage extends across most of the continental US.

Doesn't replace official briefings

FIS-B is advisory only — it's not certified for operational use as a sole weather source. Always get a full briefing from 1800wxbrief.com, ForeFlight, or your dispatcher before launch. FIS-B is best for in-flight updates and "what's the destination doing right now" awareness.

Filtering

The screen has filter chips for each product kind. Tap to toggle them on/off to focus on what you care about. The chip count tells you how many of each product are currently in the buffer.

The FIS-B screen is fed by the ADS-B receiver's uplink parser. If you're seeing 0 uplinks on the receiver tile, you're either:

  1. On the ground (no FIS-B coverage)
  2. Below 3000 ft AGL in an area with marginal ground-station coverage
  3. Receiver isn't actually connected

Visit the receiver tile first to confirm uplinks are arriving.