Weather Observing Fundamentals

Produced by The COMET^® Program

Following are the 100 present weather symbols used in meteorology as described on the National Weather Service JetStream site. The symbols are divided into groups as indicated below.

Codes 00-09 General Group: No precipitation, fog, duststorm, sandstorm, drifting or blowing snow at the station at the time of observation or, except for 09 during the preceding hour.

00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09
Cloud development NOT observed or NOT observable during past hour (not plotted)	Clouds generally dissolving or becoming less developed during past hour (not plotted)	State of sky on the whole unchanged during past hour (not plotted)	Clouds generally forming or developing during past hour (not plotted)	Visibility reduced by smoke	Haze	Widespread dust in suspension in the air, not raised by wind at or near the station at the time of observation	Dust or sand raised by the wind at or near the station at the time of the observation, but no well-developed dust whirl(s), and no sandstorm seen: or, in the case of ships, blowing spray at the station	Well developed dust whirl(s) or sand whirl(s) seen at or near the station during the preceding hour or at the time of observation, but no duststorm or sandstorm	Duststorm or sandstorm within sight at the time of observation, or at the station during the preceding hour

 

Codes 10-19 General Group: No precipitation at the station at the time of observation or, except 17, during the preceeding hour.

10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19
Mist	Patches of shallow fog at station, NOT deeper than 6 feet on land	More or less continuous shallow fog at station, NOT deeper than 6 feet on land	Lighting visible, no thunder heard	Precipitation within sight, but NOT reaching the ground	Precipitation within sight, reaching ground or the surface of the sea, but distant, i.e. estimated to be more than 3 miles from the station	Precipitation within sight, reaching the ground or the surface of the sea, near to (within 3 miles), but not at the station	Thunder heard, but no precipitation at the station	Squall(s) within sight during past hour	Funnel cloud(s) / Tornado(s) during the preceding hour or at time of observation

 

Codes 20-29 General Group: Precipitation, fog, ice fog, or thunderstorm at the station during the preceeding hour but not at the time of observation.

20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29
Drizzle (not freezing) or snow grains not falling as shower(s) ended in the past hour	Rain (not freezing) not falling as shower(s) ended in the past hour	Snow not falling as shower(s) ended in the past hour	Rain and snow or ice pellets not falling as shower(s) ended in the past hour	Freezing drizzle or freezing rain not falling as shower(s) ended in the past hour	Shower(s) of rain ended in the past hour	Shower(s) of snow, or of rain and snow ended in the past hour	Shower(s) of hail, or of rain and hail ended in the past hour	Fog or ice fog ended in the past hour	Thunderstorm (with or without precipitation) ended in the past hour

Codes 30-39 General Group: Duststorm, sandstorm, drifting or blowing snow.

30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39
Slight or moderate duststorm or sandstorm (has decreased during the preceding hour)	Slight or moderate duststorm or sandstorm (no appreciable change during the preceding hour)	Slight or moderate duststorm or sandstorm (has begun or increased during the preceding hour)	Severe duststorm or sandstorm has decreased during the preceding hour	Severe duststorm or sandstorm has no appreciable change during the preceding hour	Severe duststorm or sandstorm has begun or increased during the preceding hour	Slight or moderate drifting snow (generally below eye level)	Heavy drifting snow (generally below eye level)	Slight or moderate blowing snow (generally above eye level)	Heavy drifting snow (generally above eye level)

 

Codes 40-49 General Group: Fog at the time of observation.

40	41	42	43	44	45	46	47	48	49
Fog at a distance at the time of observation, but not at the station during the preceding hour, the fog or ice fog extending to a level above that of the observer	Fog in patches	Fog sky visible (has become thinner during preceding hour)	Fog sky obscured (has become thinner during preceding hour)	Fog sky visible (no appreciable change during the preceding hour)	Fog sky obscured (no appreciable change during the preceding hour)	Fog sky visible (has begun or has become thicker during the preceding hour)	Fog sky obscured (has begun or has become thicker during the preceding hour)	Fog, depositing rime ice, sky visible	Fog, depositing rime ice, or ice fog, sky obscured

 

Codes 50-59 General Group: Drizzle.

50	51	52	53	54	55	56	57	58	59
Drizzle, not freezing, intermittent (slight at time of observation)	Drizzle, not freezing, continuous (slight at time of observation)	Drizzle, not freezing, intermittent (moderate at time of observation)	Drizzle, not freezing, continuous (moderate at time of observation)	Drizzle, not freezing, intermittent (heavy at time of observation)	Drizzle, not freezing, continuous (heavy at time of observation)	Drizzle, freezing, slight	Drizzle, freezing, moderate or heavy	Drizzle and rain, slight	Drizzle and rain, moderate or heavy

 

Codes 60-69 General Group: Rain.

60	61	62	63	64	65	66	67	68	69
Rain, not freezing, intermittent (slight at time of observation)	Rain, not freezing, continuous (slight at time of observation)	Rain, not freezing, intermittent (moderate at time of observation)	Rain, not freezing, continuous (moderate at time of observation)	Rain, not freezing, intermittent (heavy at time of observation)	Rain, not freezing, continuous (heavy at time of observation)	Rain, freezing, slight	Rain, freezing, moderate or heavy	Rain or drizzle and snow, slight	Rain or drizzle and snow, moderate or heavy

 

Codes 70-79 General Group: Solid precipitation not in showers.

70	71	72	73	74	75	76	77	78	79
Intermittent fall of snowflakes (slight at time of observation)	Continuous fall of snowflakes (slight at time of observation)	Intermittent fall of snowflakes (moderate at time of observation)	Continuous fall of snowflakes (moderate at time of observation)	Intermittent fall of snowflakes (heavy at time of observation)	Continuous fall of snowflakes (heavy at time of observation)	Ice needles (with or without fog)	Snow grains (with or without fog)	Isolated star-like snow crystals (with or without fog)	Ice pellets (sleet)

 

Codes 80-89 General Group: Showery precipitation, or precipitation with current or recent thunderstorm.

80	81	82	83	84	85	86	87	88	89
Rain shower(s), slight	Rain shower(s), moderate or heavy	Rain shower(s), violent	Shower(s) of rain and snow mixed, slight	Shower(s) of rain and snow mixed, moderate or heavy	Snow shower(s), slight	Snow shower(s), moderate or heavy	Shower(s) of snow pellets or small hail, slight with or without rain or rain and snow mixed	Shower(s) of snow pellets or small hail, moderate or heavy with or without rain or rain and snow mixed	Shower(s) of hail, with or without rain or rain and snow mixed, not associated with thunder, slight

 

Codes 90-99 General Group: Showery precipitation, or precipitation with current or recent thunderstorm.

90	91	92	93	94
Shower(s) of hail, with or without rain or rain and snow mixed, not associated with thunder, moderate or heavy	Thunderstorm during the pre- ceding hour but not at time of observation with slight rain at time of observation	Thunderstorm during the pre- ceding hour but not at time of observation with moderate or heavy rain at time of observation	Thunderstorm during the pre- ceding hour but not at time of observation with slight snow, or rain and snow mixed, or hail at time of observation	Thunderstorm during the pre- ceding hour but not at time of observation with moderate or heavy snow, or rain and snow mixed, or hail at time of observation
95	96	97	98	99
Thunderstorm, slight or moderate, without hail but with rain and or snow at time of observation	Thunderstorm, slight or moderate, with hail at time of observation	Thunderstorm, heavy, without hail but with rain and or snow at time of observation	Thunderstorm combined with duststorm or sandstorm at time of observation	Thunderstorm, heavy, with hail at time of observation