METAR present-weather contractions are compact codes for weather phenomena reported at or near an observation point. BR means mist, FG fog, RA rain, SN snow, and TS thunderstorm or thunderstorms. These tokens form a present-weather vocabulary within the METAR body. They are distinct from sky-cover groups, which report cloud amount and height, and from the remarks tail, which follows the body and supplies additional coded or plain-language detail. The Aviation Weather Center identifies present weather, sky condition, and remarks as separate parts of the report structure. [1]

That distinction is the essential starting point for reading the codes. In a report containing BKN022 BR, BKN022 describes broken cloud with a base at 2,200 feet above ground level, while BR reports mist. The weather code does not provide a cloud base, and the cloud group does not name the present-weather phenomenon. [1][2]

A METAR reader should therefore first locate a weather token and interpret it as a phenomenon report—not as a number or a cloud-layer instruction. Its meaning may be modified by adjacent characters or codes, but its function remains within the present-weather field.

The core code families

The five common codes in this guide belong to different descriptive categories:

• BR — Mist: an obscuration code.
• FG — Fog: an obscuration code in the present-weather table. [1]
• RA — Rain: a precipitation code. A minus or plus prefix indicates light or heavy intensity, respectively.
• SN — Snow: a precipitation code; an intensity prefix may be used.
• TS — Thunderstorm(s): a descriptor that may appear with precipitation, as in TSRA. [1]

These short forms should be read as coded labels, not as abbreviations whose meaning can safely be inferred from ordinary English alone. In particular, TS functions as a descriptor in combinations such as TSRA; the complete token gives a fuller account than either element in isolation.

How to Parse a Present-Weather Group

A useful reading sequence is qualifier, descriptor, phenomenon. First check whether an intensity or proximity marker appears. Then identify any descriptor, such as thunderstorm, before reading the weather type, such as rain. The Aviation Weather Center table lists those qualifiers and phenomena together. [1]

Read prefixes and descriptors before the phenomenon

A leading minus sign means light intensity, and a leading plus sign means heavy intensity. For precipitation, an unprefixed report indicates moderate intensity. Thus:

• -RA means light rain.
• RA means moderate rain.
• +RA means heavy rain.
• -TSRA means thunderstorm with light rain; the intensity applies to the precipitation. [1]

The descriptor can add information about the form or proximity of the phenomenon. In TSRA, TS identifies the thunderstorm descriptor and RA identifies rain. In VCTS, VC means vicinity and TS identifies thunderstorms in the vicinity. VC is a proximity qualifier—not a cloud-layer marker or a signal that the remarks section has begun. [1]

Other descriptors encountered in METAR present-weather groups include SH for showers and FZ for freezing. Read such elements in their position within the group and alongside the weather type; do not treat every two-letter element as a standalone phenomenon. The same table is the cross-check when a less familiar combination appears. [1]

Keep separate groups separate

Present-weather groups are separated by spaces. A report may therefore contain more than one group, such as -RA BR, where light rain and mist are reported separately. METARs and SPECIs contain no more than three present-weather groups. [1]

Spaces matter because a sequence of letters within one group can have a different reading from two separate groups. In TSRA, the descriptor and precipitation code form a combined group. In -RA BR, the space separates the rain group from the mist group. A reliable decode preserves that boundary rather than combining every adjacent-looking weather concept into one description.

Distinguishing Weather Tokens from Nearby Fields

Present-weather codes are easiest to misread when neighboring METAR elements are treated as though they belong to the same category. The report is a sequence of different information types; proximity in the line does not mean that two groups serve the same purpose.

Sky condition is not present weather

A sky-cover group such as BKN022 communicates cloud amount and cloud-base height. In this example, BKN means broken cloud cover and 022 gives a base of 2,200 feet AGL. By contrast, BR identifies mist and RA identifies rain. A sky group does not name the precipitation or obscuration, and a present-weather token does not encode the cloud base. [1][2]

This distinction is important even when both categories describe conditions that matter to visibility or the observed environment. Interpret each group according to its own role: sky-cover codes describe clouds; present-weather codes describe phenomena at or near the station.

The remarks tail is not the code vocabulary

The remarks section begins after the body, commonly at RMK, and can add further coded or plain-language information. It is not the location where the basic meanings of BR, FG, RA, SN, or TS are defined. Those are present-weather codes in the report body. The Aviation Weather Center separates present weather from remarks, and the National Weather Service’s ASOS explanation describes the report structure and remarks section. [1][2] METAR is the routine report that carries this body. [3]

A practical parsing rule follows: identify the body’s weather group before reaching RMK; once the remarks marker appears, read subsequent material as remarks rather than extending the basic present-weather group across the boundary.

A compact decoding procedure

For a quick, repeatable reading:

1. Locate the body’s present-weather token. Look for a code such as RA, SN, FG, or BR.
2. Check for a prefix. A leading - or + indicates light or heavy intensity where applicable; unprefixed precipitation is moderate.
3. Check for a descriptor or proximity qualifier. Examples include TS, SH, FZ, and VC.
4. Read the whole group, then respect spaces. -TSRA is one combined group; -RA BR contains two groups.
5. Keep adjacent categories separate. Interpret BKN022 as sky condition, weather codes as present weather, and material after RMK as remarks. Present weather is one element of the report body, alongside wind, visibility, sky condition, temperature, and the altimeter setting. [1][2]

This procedure helps avoid two common errors: assigning a cloud-height meaning to a weather contraction, and assuming that a code near the end of a report must belong to remarks.

Comparing Reading Methods and Interface Design

There are two complementary ways to read present weather. A token-first method starts with the literal code and parses its components. A field-first method identifies the METAR section before interpreting the token. Token-first reading is efficient for a familiar group such as +RA; field-first reading is useful when a report includes cloud groups, weather groups, and remarks in close succession. Using both methods reduces category errors: first establish the field, then decode the token.

VectorWX is one place a student can read a METAR as text. The useful question is whether the reader can tell the present-weather token apart from sky cover and from remarks, and whether a decoded label keeps the original qualifiers.

A display that presents only a plain-language summary can make a report easier to scan, but the underlying token remains important when intensity, descriptor, or proximity changes the interpretation. Conversely, raw text alone can require familiarity with the code sequence. A useful reading approach preserves both: the original group for verification and a decoded meaning for comprehension. The code’s placement and syntax should remain visible enough to show whether a modifier applies to precipitation, whether VC signals vicinity, and where one space-delimited group ends and another begins.

Why Precise Decoding Matters Over Time

METARs are standardized observations, and their compact structure supports consistent exchange across aviation-weather systems. As weather information is displayed in more interfaces, the interpretive challenge is not simply translating contractions into words. It is preserving the relationships among the code, its modifiers, its report field, and the neighboring groups.

That challenge has a direct consequence for data presentation: flattening -TSRA into “thunderstorm” would omit the light-rain intensity information, while treating BKN022 as weather would confuse cloud structure with a phenomenon code. A faithful interpretation should retain those distinctions rather than reduce the report to an undifferentiated list of conditions.

With that structure in mind, BR, FG, RA, SN, and TS are not stray abbreviations. They are compact, standardized weather labels within the METAR body.

References

1. https://aviationweather.gov/help/data/
2. https://www.weather.gov/asos/METAR.html
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/METAR