OBS
WIND
VISIBILITY
PRESENT WEATHER
SYNOPTIC/3803
100
Which orographic cloud resembles an almond or a fish?
What is Lenticular?
100
The term used to describe the absence of any apparent motion in the air.
Calm
100
A measure of the opacity of the atmosphere and is expressed in terms of the horizontal distance at which a person is able to see and identify specified objects.
What is visibility?
100
A fairly uniform type of precipitation that is composed of fine drops with diameters of less than 0.02-inch (0.5 mm) that are very close together.
Drizzle
100
What color is the corrected data in lines 13 and 90 in the AF 3803?
red
200
You would classify precipitation as intermittent if it…?
-Stopped and started at least once in the past hour
200
Criteria for wind shift
Change in wind direction by 45 degrees or more in less than 15 minutes with sustained winds of 10 knots or more throughout the wind shift.
200
Visibility of 2 SM is encoded as ____ meters.
What is 3200?
200
What is the difference between large and small hail and what are they called?
Small hail (GS) less than ¼ inch and large hail (GR) is greater than ¼ inch.
200
Tower will report visibility to the observer when the visibility is less than ______ statue miles or ________ meters. The visibility can be reported in the remarks section of the observation or can be used if the observer has certain directions obscured.
4 SM / 6000 meters
300
You know that there is a thunderstorm on station but cannot hear it due to local noise and cannot see the actual lightning strikes. At the same time you observe hail. Can you encode the observation with TS?
Yes; AFMAN15-111 8.6.4.1. - For reporting purposes, a thunderstorm is considered to have begun and to be occurring "at the station" when (1) thunder is first heard when location is unknown, (2) when hail is falling or lightning is observed at or near the airfield and the local noise level is such that resulting thunder cannot be heard or (3) lightning detection equipment indicates lightning strikes within 5 nautical miles of the airfield.
300
Wind gust is the rapid fluctuations in wind speed with a variation of ____ knots or more between peaks and lulls.
10 kts
300
Sector visibility is the visibility in a specified direction that represents at least a ____degree arc (portion) of the horizon circle
What is 45 degrees?
300
What is the transition point from reporting fog to mist?
Fog is visibility less than 5/8 SM (1000 meters) and mist is more than 5/8 SM (1000 meters).
300
What entry goes in the synoptic data for snow fall amount if the snow melted as it fell?
T
400
The temperature to which a given parcel of air must be cooled, with constant water vapor content and pressure, to reach saturation is called…
Dew point
400
When is peak wind reported?
The maximum instantaneous speed in knots (since the last METAR) reported whenever the peak is greater than 25 knots.
400
If visibility is 0400 meters, how many statue miles does this equate to?
1/4 SM
400
When does a thunderstorm officially end?
Fifteen minutes after the last occurrence of thunder, hail, or lightning
400
What is the difference between the intensity of –RA, RA, and +RA?
-RA: Up to 0.10-inches per hour; maximum 0.01-inch in 6 minutes. RA: 0.11-inches to 0.30-inches per hour; more than 0.01-inch to 0.03-inches in 6 minutes. +RA: More than 0.30-inches per hour; more than 0.03-inches in 6 minutes.
500
AMOSs will be operated in full automated mode, at Department of Defense (DoD) controlled airfields, to provide the official METAR and SPECI observations, except under what conditions?
Tornado, funnel cloud, waterspout, hail, volcanic ash, sandstorm, duststorm, ice pellets
500
Instrument for measuring wind (and no, wind vane does not count… :) )
Anemometer
500
When do you report sector visibility?
Sector visibility may be reported in remarks of weather observations when it differs from the prevailing visibility by one or more reportable value and either the prevailing or the sector visibility is less than 3 statute miles (4800 meters) or otherwise considered operationally significant.
500
A strong wind characterized by a sudden onset in which the wind speed increases by at least 16 knots and is sustained at 22 knots or more for at least 1 minute.
What is a Squall (SQ)?
500
How do you report hail in the synoptic data for precipitation amount?
Add an “*” next to the amount and T is it was not measurable
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