I am trying to comprehend an OpSpec that says "All conditional forecast elements below the lowest applicable operating minimums must be taken into account."

While I can assume this means anything in a TAF below mins counts in disqualifying an airfield, I cannot take the leap from assumption to absolute certainty without understanding factually the definition of "conditional forecast elements".

Google and searching here yielded a few nebulous answers half-answers:

• TEMPO in WX forecast? - PPRuNe Forums
• http://www.nws.noaa.gov/directives/s...008013curr.pdf This document mentions "conditional language".

But, what is the actual definition of "conditional language" and what would be an example of such? I just haven't found any official government documents that define conditional language or provide examples in a TAF.



Thanks guys.

Any portion which contains "PROB" or "TEMPO."

Don't over analyze it.

http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/...rpretation.pdf

Then there's the practice of companies that note weather forecast below minimums, but purchase a "RAMTAF" showing vastly improved weather, and substitute that in the flight packet to show forecast weather well above minimums. That doesn't happen, does it?

Of course not! Or to look at it another way, you can get the best weather money can buy.

Which is interesting because they use the word "conditional" fit everything in to a small tidy box. But if everybody just called it "temp. & prob. Language" it would actually be fewer syllables and would never need to be explained again. Sometimes the cure is worse than the disease.