Metar

This page exists as a landing page to support the Metar WordPress plugin. You may find additional information on our blog by searching the metar tag.

If you’re after specific code you can use in PHP applications, of you’re after a standalone WordPress shortcode function, you’ll want to search our website . This page is intended only to demonstrate usage of the plugin.

Note: All the results on this page are cached for up to a few hours so the data returned is likely invalid.

METAR will accomplish the following:

• Include a METAR or TAF (sourced from the NOAA) website into your page.
• Display temperature or pressure information only.
• Source an Australian TAF and/or METAR from Airsevices Australia.
• Source a list of reports applicable to an Australian ARFOR.

Display a TAF or METAR

If a request is made for an Australian location, the information is sourced from Airservices Australia. Otherwise we’ll request the report from the NOAA (and return it only if the requested station exists ).

A Sydney (YSSY) metar is requested as follows: [metar loc="yssy"]. The result:

TTF METAR YSSY 191500Z 20016KT 9999 -DZ FEW015 BKN020 BKN030 19/18 Q1011 RMK RF00.0/003.8 NOSIG

To display a TAF for JFK, we’ll use the shortcode of [taf loc="kjfk"] with a result as follows:

TAF AMD KJFK 191339Z 1914/2018 32014KT P6SM SCT250 FM191900 31010KT P6SM SCT250 FM200600 VRB05KT P6SM SCT070 BKN250 FM201500 10006KT P6SM BKN070 FM201700 13007KT P6SM OVC050 PROB30 2017/2018 3SM -SN

To display a report with the line breaks it was originally published with, use [taf loc="yssy" tidy="0"]. The result:

TAF YSSY 191108Z 1912/2018
19013KT 9999 -SHRA SCT010 BKN020
FM200000 15018KT 9999 -SHRA FEW015 BKN025
FM201000 14010KT 9999 -SHRA BKN020
INTER 1912/1914 5000 SHRA BKN010
RMK
T 21 22 21 22 Q 1012 1011 1011 1012

By default the report is wrapped in paragraph tags. To disable, use p="0".

Airport Temperature

The temperature (and dew point temperature) on a Metar report is almost always reported in Celsius. The following temperature results are based on data from KJFK. Again, the option to cache your report for longer or shorter than the default hour applies. To cache your report for two hours, use [temperature loc="kjfk" temp="1" cache="7200"], or to cache it for just 30 minutes, use [temperature loc="kjfk" temp="1" cache="1800"].

The bold text in the below results is my own to illustrate the differences between the returned temperatures.

• Temperature (normalised integer °C) is -2 [temperature loc="kjfk" temp="1"]
• Dew Point Temp (normalised integer °C) is -12 [temperature loc="kjfk" temp="2"]
• Raw Temp (from Metar °C) is M02 [temperature loc="kjfk" temp="3"]
• Raw Dew Point Temp (from Metar °C) is M12 [temperature loc="kjfk" temp="4"]
• Temperature (°F) (normalised integer) is 28 [temperature loc="kjfk" temp="5"]
• Dew Point Temp (°F) (normalised integer) is 10 [temperature loc="kjfk" temp="6"]
• Raw report data is M02/M12 [temperature loc="kjfk" temp="7"]

In the examples above, the ‘raw’ temperature will return whatever is provided in the report. Negative temperatures will be prefixed with an ‘M’ and single digit temperatures will include a leading ‘0’.

Airport Pressure

To extract the aerodrome pressure from the report, the shortcode of [qnh loc="yssy"] should be used (where yssy is your location of choice). By default, we’ll always return the QNH – not inches of mercury.

The shortcode of [qnh loc="yssy"] will output a QNH of 1011.

A USA METAR report will normally prefix their pressure with an A for altimeter, while it’s Q in most other parts of the world. Since QNH is the ICAO standard, it defaults to true, regardless of what pressure the report provides.

• QNH JFK is 1036 [qnh loc="kjfk"]
• Altimeter JFK is 30.58 [qnh loc="kjfk" unit="0"]

Australian ARFOR Reports

To include all the METAR and TAFs within a specific Australian area, use the shortcode of [arfor loc="21"] (replacing 21 with whatever Australian area you’re querying). The result can be viewed on this page.

Styling the Result

We didn’t want to provide °C or °F extension as a default option because it limits the way in which you can present data. For example, the temperature in Sydney is currently 19°C (66°F) … but I could also just write that it’s currently 19 degrees.

In this example we have a string with the location, temperature, dew-point, and QNH:

The degrees symbol can be created with the string of °. To add it with your shortcode, use [temperature loc="yssy" temp="1" degrees="1"].

Showing Metar Reports in Widgets

There’s are a couple of plugins that don’t do anything other than provide a widget for various reports. We’ve avoided this in the first instance because shortcodes give you more freedom in how you format data and seriously flexibility in where you place it.

Since WordPress doesn’t enable shortcodes in Widget areas by default, we’ve provided an option to enable the functionality. Navigate your way to  Settings  ▶  Metar Shortcode  (once the plugin is activated) and you’ll see the following option.

If your shortcodes are showing up in Widgets as plain text, and only if they’re showing as text (and not rendering a result), select the option to ‘Yes’ and click  Update » .

You then only have to drag a normal text widget into a sidebar, or another location that supports them, and include your shortcode.

Shortcode Attributes

[taf] and [metar]

loc

The four letter ICAO airport code. Must exist in the NOAA database. For Australian locations, most locations are returned.

tidy

Using tidy="1" will remove line breaks and return the report in a single string. Using tidy="0" will retain line breaks. Tidy by default.

p

By default the report will be returned in paragraph tags. If you’re using any data in an inline sentence, use p="0" to remove them. p="1" (true) by default.

cache

The report will cache locally in your WP database for one hour by default (3600 seconds). To alter the cache period, use cache="1800" – where 1800 is the number of seconds; in this case, 30 minutes.

[temperature]

loc

The four letter ICAO airport code. Must exist in the NOAA database. For Australian locations, most locations are returned.

temp

As detailed above, the temp attribute determines what temperature is returned. Returns &degC by default.

degrees

To include the degrees symbol (°) after the returned temperature, use degrees="1". False by default.

cache

The report will cache locally in your WP database for one hour by default (3600 seconds). To alter the cache period, use cache="1800" – where 1800 is the number of seconds; in this case, 30 minutes.

[qnh]

loc

The four letter ICAO airport code. Must exist in the NOAA database. For Australian locations, most locations are returned.

unit

By default all pressures are returned in hectopascals (or as a QNH). To return in inches of mercury, use unit="0"

cache

The report will cache locally in your WP database for one hour by default (3600 seconds). To alter the cache period, use cache="1800" – where 1800 is the number of seconds; in this case, 30 minutes.

[arfor]

loc

The four letter ICAO airport code. Must exist in the NOAA database. For Australian locations, most locations are returned.

cache

The report will cache locally in your WP database for one hour by default (3600 seconds). To alter the cache period, use cache="1800" – where 1800 is the number of seconds; in this case, 30 minutes.

The plugin will invariably be developed over time. Follow us on Facebook for updates.