NAVCAN: Your Ultimate Destination for Aviation Weather Canada Reports

Learn more about weather.

The NAV Canada weather page now has aviation weather Canada forecasts. NAVCAN. 

NAVCAN is a privately held, non-profit corporation that provides air traffic control, flight information, weather briefings, and aeronautical information for Canadian airspace and international airspace under Canadian control.

Are you into aviation, meteorology, or air travel safety?  NAVCAN manages Canadian airspace and provides specialized weather services.  Meteorologists will appreciate a detailed explanation of aviation weather data, like METAR and TAF codes.  

You might be inspired to explore further weather-related topics, like forecasts, aviation meteorology, or meteorological science in general, based on the visuals and practical information.

Floating amongst the planes

As part of Canada's transition to a private air traffic control system, Nav Canada was formed in 1996.  Over 12 million aircraft movements are handled every year through our airspace, which covers over 18 million square kilometers.

NAVCAN is important to Canadians.  There are several reasons why: 

- It's NAVCAN's job to manage Canadian airspace safely and efficiently, which is a crucial part of the country's transportation system.  Besides protecting the environment, the organization ensures the safety of air travelers, crews, and the general public.

- Along with air traffic control, NAVCAN provides weather information, flight planning assistance, and aviation-related training programs. Services like these are essential to the Canadian aviation industry, which is a vital contributor to the economy.

- As a non-profit, NAVCAN reinvests profits into improving its services and infrastructure, not distributing them to shareholders.  In this way, the organization stays focused on its mission of providing safe and efficient air traffic control.

Aviation weather Canada maps

NAVCAN provides weather forecasts and other meteorological services to keep planes safe and efficient.  Pilots and air traffic controllers get aeronautical weather information, weather briefings, and alerts.

NAVCAN's weather forecasts are based on surface weather observations, upper-level weather observations, satellite imagery, and radar data.  In most cases, forecasts are graphical displays showing current and predicted weather conditions, like temperature, wind speed and direction, cloud cover, precipitation, and visibility.

Can you see me coming out of the clouds?

They also provides specialized weather information for pilots, like significant weather charts, icing forecasts, and turbulence forecasts.  Pilots can use these products to make informed decisions about their flight plans and avoid potential hazards.

NAVCAN's weather forecasts and meteorological services contribute to its mission to provide safe and efficient air traffic control.  Nav Canada helps keep Canadian airspace safe by providing accurate and timely weather information to pilots and air traffic controllers.

On their webpage at AWWS - Forecasts and Observations (navcanada.ca) you can find detailed observations and weather forecasts for any of your Canadian airports and all other aerodromes if you're planning a flight.

I use the graphical area forecast, GFA, over on the right.  Click it.  Choose your region.  You'll see a colourful map showing cloud outlines in brown and precipitation in green depending on your time frame.

There are also high- and low-pressure areas, isobars and troughs.

Here's how the systems will progress over the next twelve hours.  You're a pilot or a meteorologist, right?  You can even read the coded text areas for more details.

The general idea will be clear to anyone.  Clouds and precipitation are thickest near lows and troughs.  The aviation meteorology is more detailed than the regular meteorology.

The app gives you cloud heights and types, estimated times, probabilities, types, and duration of precipitation.  You might find this useful when flying.

Text forecasts

METAR / TAF is the other blue box I pick.  Here's a list of recent observations and coded forecasts for individual airports.  METAR and TAF are aviation meteorology codes for reporting current and forecasted weather conditions.  Pilots and air traffic control use the codes to determine flight conditions.  You have two choices here.

Enter your Aerodrome ID if you know it.  Otherwise, type the city name.

On this screen, select plain language if you don't know how to read METAR/TAF codes.  METARs are hourly weather reports.  SPECI observations happen between hourly time slots. 

Airport forecasts are called TAFs.  They forecast wind speed and direction, precipitation, visibility, and clouds by the hour. Even though they note the current temperature, every hour, they don't predict it.

You'll also find out when the next aviation weather Canada forecast comes out.  Convert UTC to your destination's time.

Do you want to see special reports?  You'll find buttons that say AIRMET, SIGMET, or PIREP.  Pilots and forecasters use them when they have something special to say.  You'll have to figure out how to read the code again.

As a non-profit organization focused on serving the public interest, NAV CANADA plays an important role in ensuring the safety and efficiency of air travel in Canada.

Go back from Aviation Weather Canada to the Weather Canada web page.

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Plan your flight with Aviation Weather Canada

Canadian pilots need aviation weather Canada. Now you can see detailed aviation reports from Nav Canada weather for the surrounding air and your flight planning.

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GPT-4, OpenAI's large-scale language generation model (and others provided by Google and Meta), helped generate this text.  As soon as draft language is generated, the author reviews, edits, and revises it to their own liking and is responsible for the content.