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Part Two: Section 2
XM Weather
• Winds Aloft (WINDS). The Winds Aloft
selection provides the pilot with wind speed
and direction. The winds at a given altitude
are selected in the Winds Aloft Alt below the
WINDSselection.Theselectedaltitudeis
shown along with the product time.
• Textual Meteorological Aerodrome Reports
(METARs).Whenyouzoomintoshowthe
airport symbol associated with the colored flag
foragraphicalMETAR,andmovetheMap
Pointer to highlight that airport, you can then
press ENTtoseetheTextualMETARpagefor
thatairport.TheTextualMETARpageisoneof
the airport pages of the WPT page group.
• Graphical Meteorological Aerodrome
Reports (METARs).TheXMWeatherpage(in
the NAV page group) can show colored flags
to indicate the level of current weather condi-
tionsatthoseairportsforwhichtextualMETAR
reports are available. The flags are color-coded
to indicate the severity of the current weather at
theairport:cyanforVFRconditions,greenfor
MarginalVFRconditions,yellowforIFRcondi-
tions,ormagentaofLowIFRconditions.
• Terminal Aerodrome Forecast (TAFs). A
TAFpageisaddedamongtheairportpagesof
theWPTpagegroup.TheTAFpagediffersfrom
theTextualMETARpageinthatitdescribes
forecast future weather conditions rather than
current conditions.
• Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs). The
boundariesofareaswithTFRsareoutlinedin
yellowontheMapandXMWeatherpagesof
theNAVpagegroup.Inthe500W-series,TFR
boundaries are also shown on the NAV main
page.Youcanobtainmoreinformationabouta
TFRbybringingupthemapcursor,movingthe
map cursor to within the yellow outlined area,
and pressing the ENTkey.
Weather Product Age
Theageofthedisplayedweatherproduct—orthe
effectivetimeofWindsAloftpredictions—isshown
intheupperrightcornerofthedisplay.Forexample,
ifNEXRADisdisplayed,“0:05”indicatesthatthedata
are five minutes old. If Winds Aloft predictions are
beingdisplayed,“10:00”indicatestheeffectivetime
for the displayed prediction is 10:00 AM.
ThedataforeachXMWeatherproductareupdated
regularlyfromtheGDL69/69A.XMWeatherproducts
expireafterthefollowingintervals:
Product Expiration Interval
METARs 90 minutes
NEXRAD/Radar Coverage 30 minutes
TFRs 60 minutes
TAFs 60 minutes
Lightning 30 minutes
SCITs 30 minutes
Winds Aloft Predictions 90 minutes
WhentheageofthedisplayedXMWeatherprod-
uctreachesonehalfofitsexpirationtime,thecolor
of the displayed time changes from green to amber.
ExpiredXMWeatherproductsareneverdisplayed.In
theunlikelyeventthatthedatashouldexpirebefore
a fresh update is received, the time will be dashed out
and the data removed from the display.
XM NEXRAD Weather
TheNationalWeatherService’snetworkofWSR-
88DDopplerweathersurveillanceradars—alsocalled
NEXRAD,forNextGenerationRadar—hasgreatly
improved the detection of meteorological events such
asthunderstorms,tornados,andhurricanes.Anexten-
sivenetworkofNEXRADweatherradarsprovides
190-00356-30 Rev F