How to get airport weather forecasts without a radio?

[kevbac]

A METAR will give you all of those things including trends (and only includes surface winds!).

True enough.
I think we've gotten kind of off topic from the OP.

 

[Deleted member 114292]

And ... the OP asked about getting the report without a radio.

I gave the telephone number for that.
Although I suppose you could could argue that a telephone is a radio.

 

[Ralph thompson]

METARS are the actual observed weather conditions at the specified time, updated every hr, at the specific airport. A TAF is a meteorologists estimate of forecasts conditions within 5 nm of the specific airport. All good to know for exams but remember wx can vary tremendously away from the airport due to valleys, mountains, buildings, Trees, water, tidal conditional etc etc

 

[Deleted member 114292]

True enough.
I think we've gotten kind of off topic from the OP.

I don’t know at least we’re still talking about weather forecasts.
For here that’s pretty much still on topic.

 

[kevbac]

I don’t know at least we’re still talking about weather forecasts.
For here that’s pretty much still on topic.

I'm never sure how strictly moderators will enforce topics on different forums.

 

[Deleted member 114292]

I'm never sure how strictly moderators will enforce topics on different forums.

Oh you must mean “The Editor”.
He does not normally do this forum.

 

[Skybuyer]

To heck with METARS and apps.

The best system in the U.S. is www.weather.gov, which is run by the National Weather Service. And almost always uses local airport weather reports and forecasts.

As an architectural photographer, my schedule depends 100% on weather. That site is the best by far for accurate and easy to read. They have an hourly graphic and it very, very accurate. Almost uncanny how accurate it is. I've been using it for years, even before drones.

They do not have an app, but I have the homepage tagged on the main screen of my iPhone.

Here is an example of what my local forecast looks like today. I'm not flying, but having family over this afternoon. I expect some good wind. I have it customized to show what I need for my work.

I appreciate your sentiment and the link to the weather service and the chart detailing how it's presented. Right now my focus is on being able to answer the test questions as the test wants me to regurgitate them. I have lots of time for practical knowledge which I hope never to stop acquiring.

UPDATE:
I took Ruprecht's practice test today and got 53 out of 60 correct and took notes on what I got wrong. Most of the stuff I knew cold. After the advice about sectional reading and height vs altitude tips I had no difficulty with the maps in that regard. I do need to become more familar with latitude and longitude and learn about identifying conditions of stable vs unstable air. One month from today is the real test.