MetarTaf Decoder

METAR and TAF in plain English, in seconds

Kamuzu International Airport (Lumbadzi) (FWKI / LLW)

Malawi · elevation 4035 ft AMSL · -13.7894, 33.7810 · Local time: --:--:-- · UTC time: --:--:--

About Kamuzu International Airport (Lumbadzi)

Kamuzu International Airport (Lumbadzi) is an airport with the ICAO code FWKI and the IATA code LLW. Country: Malawi. Nearest settlement listed in the database: Lumbadzi. OurAirports classifies it as a large airport. Its ICAO code starts with the FW prefix, which marks airports in Malawi. The four-letter code FWKI is used in flight operations and weather reports, while the three-letter IATA code LLW is used for ticketing and baggage handling. The airport reference point sits at 13°47'22"S, 33°46'52"E, at an elevation of 4,035 ft (1,230 m) above sea level. The applicable time zone is Africa/Blantyre.

Satellite view of FWKI

Aerial imagery showing the runway and apron layout - the zoom is matched to the longest runway.

Open the satellite view in Google Maps

Runways of FWKI

ThresholdCourseLengthWidthSurface
14140°3,540 m (11,614 ft)45 m (148 ft)asphalt
32320°

The course is derived from the runway designator (number × 10), not from a survey - the actual magnetic bearing can differ by a few degrees.

Declared distances (TORA, TODA, ASDA, LDA) are published in the national AIP - they are not part of this table.

Climate at Kamuzu International Airport (Lumbadzi) - statistics from METAR reports

What the METAR reports from FWKI for 2023-2025 show - counted hour by hour.

We computed these statistics from 12,919 METAR reports issued by FWKI in 2023-2025. VFR conditions prevailed 72% of the time, MVFR 26% and IFR or LIFR 2%. Best month for VFR flying: September (85% of hours VFR). Most IFR and LIFR hours: May (3%).

IFR and LIFR conditions are rare here at any time of day.

Fog (FG) was reported on 12 days a year on average, most often in March. Thunderstorms (TS) occurred on 69 days a year on average, and snowfall practically never.

The wind most often blows from E (90°) - 32% of reports. Calm (0 kt) made up 5% of reports, and gusts of 25 kt or more appeared in <1%. Warmest month: October (average high 29.5 °C); coldest: July (average low 10.6 °C).

Year

Selected period in numbers: 2023-2025

VFR hours
72%
IFR/LIFR hours
2%
Avg high
26.4 °C
Avg low
16.5 °C
Fog days
12
Thunderstorm days
69
Snow days
0
Prevailing wind
E · 32%
Gusts ≥ 25 kt
<1%

Day counts are for the selected period (for all years - the yearly average).

Flight categories month by month
Bar chart: share of VFR, MVFR, IFR and LIFR hours in each month0%25%50%75%100%January: VFR 66%, MVFR 32%, IFR 2%, LIFR <1%JanFebruary: VFR 73%, MVFR 25%, IFR 1%, LIFR 1%FebMarch: VFR 54%, MVFR 43%, IFR 2%, LIFR 1%MarApril: VFR 59%, MVFR 39%, IFR 1%, LIFR 1%AprMay: VFR 70%, MVFR 27%, IFR 2%, LIFR 1%MayJune: VFR 77%, MVFR 21%, IFR 2%, LIFR 1%JunJuly: VFR 79%, MVFR 18%, IFR 2%, LIFR 1%JulAugust: VFR 78%, MVFR 21%, IFR 1%, LIFR 0%AugSeptember: VFR 85%, MVFR 15%, IFR 1%, LIFR 0%SeptOctober: VFR 79%, MVFR 20%, IFR 1%, LIFR <1%OctNovember: VFR 74%, MVFR 25%, IFR <1%, LIFR <1%NovDecember: VFR 70%, MVFR 28%, IFR 2%, LIFR <1%Dec
  • VFR 72%
  • MVFR 26%
  • IFR 1%
  • LIFR 1%
Temperature month by month
Chart: average daily high and low temperature in each month0°5°10°15°20°25°30°January: 18.6 … 25.8 °C2619JanFebruary: 18.8 … 27.0 °C2719FebMarch: 18.3 … 26.6 °C2718MarApril: 17.0 … 25.9 °C2617AprMay: 13.8 … 24.9 °C2514MayJune: 12.2 … 24.1 °C2412JunJuly: 10.6 … 23.5 °C2311JulAugust: 12.0 … 24.4 °C2412AugSeptember: 16.2 … 27.7 °C2816SeptOctober: 18.4 … 29.5 °C2918OctNovember: 19.7 … 28.9 °C2920NovDecember: 20.1 … 28.6 °C2920Dec

The top of each bar is the average daily high, the bottom the average daily low (usually around dawn), in °C.

Wind rose: how often the wind blows from each of 16 directions10%20%30%40%N: 2%NNE: 1%NE: 3%ENE: 10%E: 32%ESE: 14%SE: 7%SSE: 5%S: 9%SSW: 2%SW: 1%WSW: 1%W: 1%WNW: 1%NW: 2%NNW: 2%NNNENEENEEESESESSESSSWSWWSWWWNWNWNNWE 32%

Wind rose

  • 1-10 kt
  • 11-20 kt
  • over 20 kt
  • calm: 5%

Most often: E - 32% of reports. Each petal shows the direction the wind blows from (as in METAR) - the longer it is, the more often. Colour shows wind speed.

Month by month

MonthAvg high °CAvg low °CVFRIFR/LIFRFog daysThunderstorm daysSnow days
January25.818.666%2%0.9170
February27.018.873%2%1160
March26.618.354%3%2.8110
April25.917.059%2%1.84.50
May24.913.870%3%2.60.40
June24.112.277%3%0.600
July23.510.679%3%2.500
August24.412.078%1%000
September27.716.285%1%000
October29.518.479%1%02.30
November28.919.774%<1%06.40
December28.620.170%3%0120

Temperatures are averages of daily highs and lows. Day counts are the average per month over the period.

More in the METAR Academy: VFR, MVFR, IFR, LIFR flight categories, fog in METAR

Source: routine METAR reports from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet archive (Iowa State University), 2023-2025. Flight categories use the FAA thresholds, widely used as a convention. A day counts when it has at least 12 reports. These are statistics of past conditions - not a forecast or a substitute for a pre-flight briefing.

Runways at FWKI

According to OurAirports data (compiled from AIP and FAA sources), Kamuzu International Airport (Lumbadzi) has one runway: 14/32 - 3,540 m long (11,614 ft), 45 m wide, asphalt surface.

Runway headings and wind

The thresholds are oriented as follows: 14/32 on 140° and 320° magnetic. A threshold designator is its magnetic heading divided by ten (ICAO Annex 14), so the runway axis can be read straight off the numbers.

For the 14/32 axis, wind from the south-west (around 230°) or from the north-east (around 50°) blows perpendicular to the runway and produces the largest crosswind component. Wind from around 140° or 320° acts along the runway, as a headwind or a tailwind. The decoder on this page computes those components automatically from the current METAR.

METAR and TAF for FWKI

Weather reports for Kamuzu International Airport (Lumbadzi) are published under the ICAO code FWKI. A METAR is an observation of current conditions, usually issued every 30 or 60 minutes; a TAF is a forecast for the airport area, typically covering 9 to 30 hours.

The decoder breaks the FWKI report down into its parts: wind direction and speed including gusts and variability, visibility (including CAVOK and directional minimum visibility), weather phenomena by WMO code, cloud layers with their bases, temperature and dew point, QNH pressure, and the resulting flight category - VFR, MVFR, IFR or LIFR - using FAA thresholds.

Not every airport issues its own reports; many smaller airfields have no weather station. If no current data is available for FWKI, check the nearby airports listed below.

Reports always use UTC (the Z suffix). The Africa/Blantyre zone stays at GMT+02:00 year-round, so converting to local time is always the same shift.

The closest airports in the database, measured in a straight line from the reference point, are Old Lilongwe Airport (FWLE, 21 km), Ntchisi Airport (FWCS, 47 km), Salima Airport (FWSM, 87 km). When no report is available for FWKI, they usually give the best approximation of conditions in the area.

METAR Academy

Something unclear in the FWKI report?

Step-by-step guides - with examples, charts and calculators.

How to read a METARHow to read a TAFVFR/IFR flight categoriesAll guides →

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Nearby airports

Looking for a report from a specific day?

The METAR archive for FWKI goes back to 08/11/2010. Pick a date and see every observation from that day.

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