The Met office provides weather information for many different purposes. If you go to the aviation section of their website (http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/aviation/index.html) you will find a wealth of actual and forecast weather information pertinent to pilots.
A METAR is a Meteorological actual report, and shows the observed weather conditions at an airfield, including visibility, wind speed and direction, cloud and precipitation.
A TAF is a terminal area forecast, and provides an indication of the forecast weather conditions over the next few hours.
From these and the synoptic charts it is possible to build up a good picture of the likely conditions prevailing during a planned flight. The minimum weather conditions required in order to fly mainly depend on the pilots qualifications and the aircraft.
Why am I telling you all this? Today was another no-flying day. The visibility was around 5km, which is just legal but does not provide a good view for visual navigation. The cloudbase was more of a concern at around 1500ft it meant that there was marginal clearance over some of the higher land and obstacles around. The real problem is when the terrain rises to meet the cloud (or vice versa). Many pilots have found to their cost that 'scud running' as its called under clouds is a practice best avoided.
So I'll look at the TAFs and METARs for tomorrow....
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