Talk:Report of air crash near Abuja - over 100 feared dead

Severe Weather?

METARs from the time around 10:35am GMT (Zulu, Aviation Time) read the following:

DNAA 290800Z 00000KT CAVOK 27/24 Q1012 NOSIG
DNAA 291000Z 27006KT 9999 BKN012 30/24 Q1011 NOSIG
DNAA 291300Z 00000KT 9999 FEW010 FEW020CB BKN100 25/22 Q1009 NOSIG
DNAA 291400Z 00000KT 9999 FEW010 FEW020CB BKN100 26/23 Q1008 TEMPO 06022G35KT

For those of you not able to read METARs - these indicate no severe weather, with a few clouds at 1000ft/2000ft and broken clouds at 10,000ft. The METAR would therefore lead me to believe that severe weather was not the cause of the crash - the only source that seems to mention a "storm" is the BBC, hence I am reluctant to remove it. The METARs do not portray a storm, although 6 knot winds were reported at 1000Z and the one issued at 1400Z indicates temporary gusts of up to 35 Knots. --Skenmy^{(t•c•w•i)} 15:56, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

This is actually an article that merits the breaking tag (most that get it don't). Based on followup reports to use as sources this article could change significantly between now and midnight, but once it is yesterday's news I'd start collecting stuff for a followup, perhaps 2-3 days later with initial black box analysis and so on. The weather reports are an interesting thing, and you'd be free to actually incorporate that into the article if you do a quick how-to on reading the data here on the talk page. And yes, that would qualify as original reporting (primary source) which you'd boldly introduce into the article along the lines of "The BBC's report of poor weather contradicts the METAR reports for around the time of the crash. Their report indicates limited cloud cover and winds were not severe." Probably expand METAR or substitute a good 2-3 word synopsis of the function they serve. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 17:08, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

METAR

A METAR is a standard method of identifying weather, primarily used in the field of aviation. Take the following METAR as an example:

DNAA 291000Z 27006KT 9999 BKN012 30/24 Q1011 NOSIG

DNAA is the Airport ICAO Code. What follows is the date and time of the issued METAR, in Zulu time (or GMT). Then the winds, which are indicated here as a direction of 270 degrees (west) at 06 knots. Visibility is unlimited, with broken clouds at 1200 feet. Temperature is 30 degrees, with a dew point at 24 degrees. The next is the local QNH (reading here as 1011 millibars) with NOSIG meaning No Significant Change in the weather.

This is the active METAR at the time of the crash, thus the expected weather at the time of takeoff for the plane (1030Z). This does indeed contradict the BBCs report of bad weather and storms, as nothing is indicated in the METAR report. --Skenmy^{(t•c•w•i)} 17:58, 29 October 2006 (UTC)