AIRMET Decoder
Paste an Alaska or Hawaii text AIRMET below to decode its category, validity, hazard information and available forecast details.
What is an AIRMET?
An AIRMET describes specified en route weather hazards that may affect aircraft operations. U.S. text AIRMETs for Alaska and Hawaii are organized into the Sierra, Tango and Zulu categories.
The original advisory remains visible with the decoded information, so each interpreted field can be checked against the issued AIRMET.
AIRMET Sierra
Sierra covers IFR conditions and extensive mountain obscuration. Alaska AIRMETs can contain separate geographic sections, with each area and condition description retained in the order reported.
AIRMET Tango
Tango covers hazards including moderate turbulence, strong sustained surface winds and non-convective low-level wind shear. The documented examples on this page include moderate turbulence and strong-surface-wind forms.
AIRMET Zulu
Zulu covers moderate icing and freezing levels. Decoded information can include icing layers, freezing levels and intensity trends where those elements appear in the documented format.
Alaska AIRMETs
Alaska AIRMETs are issued in text format and may contain multiple geographic sections. Those sections remain in their original order, including repeated areas that describe different hazards.
Hawaii AIRMETs
Hawaii text AIRMETs may include update numbers, no-significant-hazard statements and continuation information. The Sierra, Tango and Zulu forms documented in the available FAA examples are decoded on this page.
What about CONUS G-AIRMETs?
AIRMETs over the contiguous United States are distributed as graphical G-AIRMET products. They are not the same text format as the Alaska and Hawaii messages decoded on this page, so this decoder does not interpret G-AIRMETs.
Decoder coverage
Coverage follows the documented FAA formats for Alaska and Hawaii text AIRMETs. Geographic descriptions that are not broken into individual fields remain available as original advisory text.
Not every AIRMET hazard form is represented in the available documentation. Forms that are not established by those examples are left uninterpreted rather than reconstructed from issuance criteria alone. This page does not claim complete worldwide AIRMET format coverage.
For significant weather advisories, use the SIGMET Decoder. U.S. Center Weather Advisories can be decoded with the CWA Decoder.