National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Extremely Critical Fire Weather in New Mexico; Enhanced Severe Thunderstorm Risk in Central U.S.

High winds and very dry conditions will bring extremely critical fire weather over a large part of New Mexico today. Red Flag and High Wind Warnings have been issued. Isolated to scattered severe thunderstorms may produce large to very large hail and localized damaging winds late this afternoon into evening from the eastern Central Plains to the Upper Midwest. Read More >

Pilot and Aircraft Reports

An Aircraft Report is a report of actual weather conditions encountered by an aircraft while in flight. There are two types of reports. An AIREP is a routine, often automated report of in-flight weather conditions such as wind and temperature. A PIREP is reported by a pilot to indicate encounters of hazardous weather such as icing or turbulence. Both are transmitted in real-time via radio to a ground station.

PIREPs and AIREPs are encoded differently. AIREP format is more common outside the contiguous U.S. even though there are some AIREPs over the CONUS. The location is specified by latitude and longitude which is better for international routes. PIREPs are preferred over the CONUS where the location is based on distance and direction to a known Nav Aid such as a VOR.

 

Go to PIREPs page at AWC