GAFOR

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The GAFOR ( G eneral A viation For eCast ) is an aviation weather forecast for the general aviation , which for Germany by the German Weather Service is created (DWD) several times a day for five areas:

  • North - areas 00 to 10
  • Middle - areas 41 to 47, 50 to 53, 61
  • South - areas 54 to 58, 62 to 64, 71 to 76, 81 to 84
  • East - areas 11 to 28
  • West - areas 31 to 39

Content of the service

Weather situation and development

Keyword-like description of the location of pressure systems, air masses and fronts

Weather events

Brief information about significant weather phenomena

Wind and temperature

The altitude winds are given for 1500, 2000, 3000, 5000 ft above MSL and FL100.

Turbulence up to FL 100

Information on areas at risk of turbulence. Turbulence that occurs in connection with showers or thunderstorms is not mentioned.

Zero degree limit

Information is given in ft via MSL or in FL

Prediction of visual flight options for the individual GAFOR areas

The weather forecast is divided into three 2-hour tranches and updated four times a day (five times during summer time).

Output time GAFOR forecast period
01:50 UTC 03 to 09 UTC (only during the statutory summer time )
04:50 UTC 06-12 UTC
07:50 UTC 09-15 UTC
10:50 UTC 12 to 18 UTC
13:50 UTC 15 to 21 UTC

The description is made with a combination of letters or letters / numbers. The code can be evaluated quickly using the GAFOR table shown below. The table is staggered according to the main cloud base in feet and the ground visibility in meters. However, 5/8 cloud cover must be present in the appropriate height so that it is relevant for the classification.

<1.5 km 1.5 - 5 km 5 - 8 km 8-10 km > 10 km
> 5000 ft X M6 D3 O C.
2000-5000 ft O
1000-2000 ft M7 D4 D1
500-1000 ft M8 M5 M2
<500 ft X

The letters are usually named with the respective keywords of the ICAO spelling alphabet and stand for

C - CHARLIE - clear - ground visibility at least 10 km, main cloud base at least 5000 ft above the reference area (even better conditions are indicated by the designation CAVOK ). The classification CHARLIE is only used in Germany.

O - OSCAR - open - ground visibility at least 8 km and main cloud base at least 2000 ft above the reference area.

D - DELTA - difficult - ground visibility at least 5 km and / or * main cloud base at least over 1000 ft above the reference area.

M - MIKE - marginal / critical - ground visibility at least 1.5 km and / or * main cloud base at least over 500 ft above the reference area.

X - X-RAY - closed - ground visibility less than 1.5 km and / or * main cloud base less than 500 ft above the reference area.

* "and / or" means that the more unfavorable of the two criteria (ground view & main cloud lower limit) is decisive for the classification.

For a more precise description, numbers from 1 to 8 are added to the letters D and M in Germany to show which of the conditions led to the classification and to be able to make more precise gradations.

Area codes and reference levels of the GAFOR areas (since 11/2008)

area designation Reference altitude (ft MSL)
00 German Bight 0
01 Ostfriesland 200
02 North Frisia-Dithmarschen 100
03 Schleswig-Holstein Geest 200
04 Schleswig-Holstein hill country 300
05 Northwestern Lower Saxony 200
06 Lueneburg Heath 400
07 Western Lower Saxony 300
08 Hanover and Braunschweig 600
09 Teutoburg Forest 700
10 Weser-Leine Bergland 1400
11 Mecklenburg lowlands 300
12 Western Pomerania 200
13 Western Mecklenburg Lake District and Prignitz 400
14th Eastern Mecklenburg Lake District and Uckermark 400
15th Altmark 400
16 Flaming 600
17th Havelland 300
18th Barnim and Oderbruch 400
19th Dahme-Spree area and Gubener Waldland 400
20th Magdeburg Boerde and Northern Harz Foreland 700
21st resin 2300
22nd Leipzig lowland bay and Elbe-Elster valley 600
23 Niederlausitzer Heiden 600
24 Thuringian Basin 1400
25th Central Saxon hill country 1300
26th Upper Lusatia and Lusatian Mountains 1500
27 Thuringian Forest 2800
28 Ore Mountains 2800
31 Lower Rhine lowlands 400
32 Münsterland 500
33 Ruhr area and East Westphalia 800
34 Lower Rhine Bay 700
35 Bergisches Land 1400
36 Sauerland 2400
37 Eifel 2000
38 New basin 1000
39 Westerwald 1900
41 Hunsrück 2300
42 Taunus 2000
43 North Hessian mountains and Vogelsberg 2000
44 Rheinpfalz and Saarland 1900
45 Rhine-Main area and Wetterau 800
46 Odenwald and Spessart 1800
47 Rhön 2800
50 Southern Upper Rhine Graben 1100
51 Middle Upper Rhine Graben 800
52 Kraichgau 1100
53 Upper and middle Neckar area 1700
54 Main Franconia and Northern Lower Franconia 1400
55 Kocher-Jagst area and Frankenhöhe 1900
56 Middle Franconia 1700
57 Upper Franconia 1900
58 Franconian Forest and Fichtel Mountains 2700
61 Black Forest 4000
62 Swabian Alb 3000
63 Franconian Alb 2000
64 Upper Palatinate Forest 2400
71 Lake Constance area 2100
72 Swabian plateau 2400
73 Western Danube lowlands 1700
74 Southern Bavarian hill country 1800
75 Eastern Danube and Naab lowlands 1600
76 Bavarian forest 3300
81 Western foothills of the Alps 3300
82 Eastern foothills of the Alps 2500
83 Allgäu Alps 6500
84 Eastern Bavarian Alps 6500

GAFOR retrieval options

In contrast to other countries such as Switzerland or Austria, the German weather service GAFOR information has monopolized itself in Germany and pursues a restrictive information policy, within the framework of which the weather services of our neighboring countries were asked not to provide freely available weather or GAFOR data To make available. MeteoSwiss had to discontinue its "GAFOR Germany" Internet service. GAFOR information has also completely disappeared from the screen text of the public television stations, according to the NDR "due to technical difficulties in transmission".

Since April 2, 2013, the German Weather Service has been offering GAFOR on its website for the purpose of air sports free of charge and without registration.

The service can be accessed via:

be used.

On August 1, 2013, the option of calling up the phone and faxing VFR was discontinued.

See also

  • GAMET - a supplement for GAFOR
  • METAR - weather observation of an airfield
  • TAF - aviation weather forecast for larger airfields
  • VOLMET - Weather information for aircraft in flight

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ German air traffic control : Aviation manual AIP . July 11, 2013, p. GEN 3-29 .
  2. ^ [1] , German Weather Service
  3. ↑ Aviation. Restriction of fax retrieval and elimination of the telephone announcement for GAFOR reports. In: dwd.de. German Weather Service, accessed on August 7, 2013 .