Nalchik Airport (URMN / NAL)

Russia · elevation 1461 ft AMSL · 43.5129, 43.6366 · Local time: --:--:-- · UTC time: --:--:--

About Nalchik Airport

Nalchik Airport is an airport with the ICAO code URMN and the IATA code NAL. Country: Russia. Nearest settlement listed in the database: Nalchik. OurAirports classifies it as a medium-sized airport. Its ICAO code starts with the UR prefix, which marks airports in Russia. The four-letter code URMN is used in flight operations and weather reports, while the three-letter IATA code NAL is used for ticketing and baggage handling. The airport reference point sits at 43°30'46"N, 43°38'12"E, at an elevation of 1,461 ft (445 m) above sea level. The applicable time zone is Europe/Moscow.

Satellite view of URMN

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 URMN

ThresholdCourseLengthWidthSurface
0660°2,200 m (7,218 ft)42 m (138 ft)asphalt
24240°

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 Nalchik Airport - statistics from METAR reports

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

We computed these statistics from 26,295 METAR reports issued by URMN in 2023-2025. VFR conditions prevailed 69% of the time, MVFR 13% and IFR or LIFR 18%. Best month for VFR flying: July (97% of hours VFR). Most IFR and LIFR hours: December (42%).

Through the day, IFR or LIFR conditions are most frequent around 04:00 UTC (23% of reports at that hour) and least frequent around 13:00 UTC (13%).

Fog (FG) was reported on 68 days a year on average, most often in December. Thunderstorms (TS) occurred on 28 days a year on average, and snowfall on 21.

The wind most often blows from E (90°) - 11% of reports. Calm (0 kt) made up 9% of reports, and gusts of 25 kt or more appeared in <1%. Warmest month: July (average high 30.1 °C); coldest: February (average low -4.0 °C).

Year

Selected period in numbers: 2023-2025

VFR hours
69%
IFR/LIFR hours
18%
Avg high
16.3 °C
Avg low
7.4 °C
Fog days
68
Thunderstorm days
28
Snow days
21
Prevailing wind
E · 11%
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 53%, MVFR 15%, IFR 9%, LIFR 23%JanFebruary: VFR 50%, MVFR 14%, IFR 15%, LIFR 21%FebMarch: VFR 54%, MVFR 18%, IFR 12%, LIFR 15%MarApril: VFR 75%, MVFR 16%, IFR 6%, LIFR 3%AprMay: VFR 73%, MVFR 16%, IFR 7%, LIFR 4%MayJune: VFR 93%, MVFR 6%, IFR 1%, LIFR <1%JunJuly: VFR 97%, MVFR 3%, IFR <1%, LIFR <1%JulAugust: VFR 96%, MVFR 3%, IFR 1%, LIFR 1%AugSeptember: VFR 70%, MVFR 16%, IFR 9%, LIFR 5%SeptOctober: VFR 70%, MVFR 17%, IFR 6%, LIFR 7%OctNovember: VFR 55%, MVFR 16%, IFR 13%, LIFR 17%NovDecember: VFR 43%, MVFR 15%, IFR 10%, LIFR 32%Dec
  • VFR 69%
  • MVFR 13%
  • IFR 7%
  • LIFR 11%
Temperature month by month
Chart: average daily high and low temperature in each month−5°0°5°10°15°20°25°30°35°January: -3.7 … 3.8 °C4−4JanFebruary: -4.0 … 2.9 °C3−4FebMarch: 2.5 … 10.7 °C112MarApril: 7.6 … 17.3 °C178AprMay: 10.6 … 19.3 °C1911MayJune: 15.9 … 26.3 °C2616JunJuly: 18.3 … 30.1 °C3018JulAugust: 18.5 … 29.9 °C3018AugSeptember: 13.1 … 21.7 °C2213SeptOctober: 7.7 … 16.3 °C168OctNovember: 3.1 … 11.1 °C113NovDecember: -0.9 … 4.9 °C5−1Dec

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 directions5%10%15%N: 7%NNE: 5%NE: 6%ENE: 9%E: 11%ESE: 4%SE: 3%SSE: 2%S: 3%SSW: 5%SW: 10%WSW: 10%W: 7%WNW: 3%NW: 2%NNW: 3%NNNENEENEEESESESSESSSWSWWSWWWNWNWNNWE 11%

Wind rose

  • 1-10 kt
  • 11-20 kt
  • over 20 kt
  • calm: 9%

Most often: E - 11% 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
January3.8-3.753%32%1104
February2.9-4.050%36%7.308.3
March10.72.554%27%100.72.7
April17.37.675%9%2.32.30.3
May19.310.673%10%1.35.30
June26.315.993%1%09.30
July30.118.397%<1%04.30
August29.918.596%1%030
September21.713.170%14%3.330
October16.37.770%13%5.700
November11.13.155%29%1002
December4.9-0.943%42%1603.7

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 URMN

According to OurAirports data (compiled from AIP and FAA sources), Nalchik Airport has one runway: 06/24 - 2,200 m long (7,218 ft), 42 m wide, asphalt surface.

Runway headings and wind

The thresholds are oriented as follows: 06/24 on 60° and 240° 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 06/24 axis, wind from the south-east (around 150°) or from the north-west (around 330°) blows perpendicular to the runway and produces the largest crosswind component. Wind from around 60° or 240° 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 URMN

Weather reports for Nalchik Airport are published under the ICAO code URMN. 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 URMN 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 URMN, check the nearby airports listed below.

Reports always use UTC (the Z suffix). The Europe/Moscow zone stays at GMT+03:00 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 Vladikavkaz Beslan International Airport (URMO, 86 km), Mestia Queen Tamar Airport (UGMS, 88 km), Yessentuki Airfield (URME, 89 km). When no report is available for URMN, they usually give the best approximation of conditions in the area.

METAR Academy

Something unclear in the URMN report?

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

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Nearby airports

Looking for a report from a specific day?

The METAR archive for URMN goes back to 01/01/1948. Pick a date and see every observation from that day.

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