Aviation Weather Map
SIGMETs, G-AIRMETs, freezing levels, pilot reports and radar over the FAA's own charts. Filter it by the altitude you plan to fly, and scrub the last two hours or the forecast ahead.
The dots on this map are flight categories computed from each station's METAR. How to read a METAR explains where the ceiling and visibility behind each colour come from, and why a low scattered layer is not a ceiling.
What is on the map
Four layers, each toggled separately. SIGMETs are the serious ones: convective areas, severe turbulence, severe icing, volcanic ash, and dust or sandstorms, drawn with the Aviation Weather Center's own legend colours so they look the way you already expect. G-AIRMETs cover the lesser but far more common hazards — IFR conditions, mountain obscuration, moderate turbulence split high and low, icing, and low-level wind shear. Freezing levels are drawn as lines with their altitude, because a freezing level is a surface rather than a volume. Pilot reports are the last ninety minutes of what aircrew actually found up there, coloured by severity, with urgent reports picked out.
Station flight categories are a fifth, optional layer: a coloured dot for every US reporting station, green through magenta for VFR, MVFR, IFR, and LIFR. It stays off until you ask for it because it needs the whole national observation file — about 230 KB — and the map is useful without it.
Filtering by altitude
This is the part a plan-view map usually cannot answer. Nearly every decision a pilot makes about weather is really a decision about altitude: whether the ice is below you, whether it is smoother higher, whether you can get on top. Pick an altitude and the map keeps only the advisories whose band contains it, and the pilot reports made within 2,000 ft of it. Out-of-band reports fade rather than disappear, so you can still see where a layer sits relative to where you are going.
Most G-AIRMETs never publish a floor and a ceiling. Where levels are missing they are inferred from the hazard, and those bands are labelled as inferred — a stated FL300 to FL410 should never look like a guess. Freezing levels are exempt from the filter entirely.
TFRs and radar
Temporary flight restrictions are drawn from the FAA's own TFR list, refreshed every five minutes: red where a restriction is in effect right now, amber where it is published but not yet active (or outside its daily window), dashed for the scheduled ones. Tap an area for its altitudes, effective times and the FAA detail page. Stadium TFRs and the standing security areas are not in the FAA list and are not drawn here. The radar layer is the national NEXRAD composite, updated every five minutes; it is a picture of precipitation, not a forecast.
The last two hours, and the forecast ahead
Weather is a film, not a photograph, so the bar along the bottom is a time seeker rather than a set of buttons. Drag it left and the NEXRAD composite replays its five-minute frames while the advisories swap to the snapshot that was actually published in that hour — SkyReady archives the national SIGMET and G-AIRMET bundles hourly precisely so the past is the past, and says "no archive for that hour" rather than redrawing the present under an older label. Drag right and you move through the validity the forecast already carries: SIGMET and outlook validity hour by hour, G-AIRMET snapshots every three hours out to twelve. Radar has no forecast and disappears once you pass now.
Charts underneath
The Charts tab carries the FAA VFR sectional (the terminal area chart takes over at close zooms) and the IFR low and high enroute charts, served from SkyReady's own tile set on the current chart cycle, alongside the aeronautical vector map, terrain and satellite. Airspace, navaids, fixes, airways and obstacles draw as vector layers over any of them. Nothing here needs an account or an API key. This page is the weather explainer; if the charts themselves are what you want, the same map runs full screen on the charts page, with the chart cycles and airspace explained there.
What this map does not show
No NOTAMs beyond TFRs, and no traffic. It shows hazard advisories, TFRs, radar, airspace and reports, and it shows them as the issuing products describe them. It is an advisory planning picture, not an official briefing: brief and file through official channels. For a vertical slice along a specific route rather than a view from above, use the flight planner, which draws the same weather as a cross-section against the altitudes you are considering.
FAQ
Where does the weather come from?
The Aviation Weather Center. SIGMETs and G-AIRMETs refresh every five minutes, pilot reports every five minutes, and station observations every minute. SkyReady ingests the national files and serves them from its own cache, so the map is reading the same products a briefer would.
What does the altitude filter do?
It shows only the advisories whose altitude band contains the altitude you picked, and pilot reports within 2,000 ft of it. Advisories that state no levels have a band inferred from the hazard type, and those are labelled. Freezing levels always show, because they are the product an altitude choice most depends on.
Why are some altitude bands marked as inferred?
Most G-AIRMETs do not publish a floor and ceiling. When levels are missing, the band is filled in from the hazard — surface to 10,000 ft for IFR and mountain obscuration, the FL180 split for turbulence — and marked so you can tell a stated band from a filled-in one.
Can I see a sectional?
Yes — the Layers panel’s Charts tab carries the FAA VFR sectional, the terminal area chart at close zooms, and the IFR low and high enroute charts on the current cycle. If the charts are what you came for rather than the weather, open the same map full screen at skyready.app/charts.
Does it show airspace and TFRs?
Yes. Class B/C/D/E airspace, Mode C veils, special use airspace, national defense areas and stadium TFR sites come from the current FAA cycle; temporary flight restrictions come from the FAA list and refresh every five minutes. Tap any boundary for altitudes, hours and the controlling agency.
Can I see how the weather moved?
Yes. The bar along the bottom scrubs from two hours ago to the end of the published forecast: drag back and the radar replays its five-minute frames while the advisories switch to the snapshot published in that hour, or press play to run the loop. Radar is an observation, so it is hidden once you scrub past now — nothing here pretends to forecast it.
Is this an official weather briefing?
No. It is an advisory picture for planning. It does not include NOTAMs, and it is not a substitute for an official briefing through 1800wxbrief.com or your EFB.