Each METAR includes the airport identifier, time of observation, wind, visibility, runway visual range, present weather phenomena, sky conditions, temperature, dew point, and altimeter setting.
LBBG 041600Z 12012MPS 090V150 1400 R04/P1500N R22/P1500U +SN BKN022 OVC050 M04/M07 Q1020 NOSIG 8849//91
METAR indicates that the following is a standard hourly observation.
LBBG is the ICAO airport code for Burgas Airport.
041600Z indicates the time of the observation. It is the day of the month (04) followed by the time of day (1600 Zulu time, which equals 4:00 pm Greenwich Mean Time or 6:00 pm local time).
12012MPS indicates the wind direction is from 120° (east-southeast) at a speed of 12 m/s (23 knots; 27 mph; 44 km/h). Speed measurements can be in knots (abbreviated KT) or meters per second (abbreviated MPS).
090V150 indicates the wind direction is varying from 90° true (east) to 150° true (south-southeast).
1400 indicates the prevailing visibility is 1,400 m (4,600 ft).
R04/P1500N indicates the Runway Visual Range (RVR) along runway 04 is 1,500 m (4,900 ft) and not changing significantly.
R22/P1500U indicates RVR along runway 22 is 1,500 m (4,900 ft) and rising.
+SN indicates snow is falling at a heavy intensity. If any precipitation begins with a minus or plus (-/+), it's either light or heavy.
BKN022 indicates a broken (over half the sky) cloud layer with its base at 2,200 ft (670 m) above ground level (AGL). The lowest "BKN" or "OVC" layer specifies the cloud ceiling.
OVC050 indicates an unbroken cloud layer (overcast) with its base at 5,000 ft (1,500 m) above ground level (AGL).
M04/M07 indicates the temperature is −4 °C (25 °F) and the dew point is −7 °C (19 °F). An M in front of the number indicates that the temperature/dew point is below zero Celsius.
Q1020 indicates the current altimeter setting (in QNH) is 1,020 hPa (30.12 inHg).
NOSIG is an example of a TREND forecast which is appended to METARs at stations while a forecaster is on watch. NOSIG means that no significant change is expected to the reported conditions within the next 2 hours.
8849//91 indicates the condition of the runway.
The first two characters indicate which runway is being described.
If there are two or more runways with the same number, some locations will use three characters (e.g. 25L and 25R). Otherwise, the left runway will use just its number and the right runway will add 50 (e.g. 25 = 25L and 75 = 25R).
88 indicates all the airport's runways.
99 indicates repetition of the last message as no new information was received.
4 means the runway is coated with dry snow
9 means 51% to 100% of the runway is covered
// means the thickness of the coating was either not measurable or not affecting usage of the runway
91 means the braking index is bad, in other words the tires have bad grip on the runway
CAVOK is an abbreviation for Ceiling And Visibility OK, indicating no cloud below 5,000 ft (1,500 m) or the highest minimum sector altitude and no cumulonimbus or towering cumulus at any level, a visibility of 10 km (6 mi) or more and no significant weather change.[8]
= indicates the end of the METAR
