MetarTaf Decoder

METAR and TAF in plain English, in seconds

George F. L. Charles Airport (Castries) (TLPC / SLU)

Saint Lucia · elevation 22 ft AMSL · 14.0202, -60.9929 · Local time: --:--:-- · UTC time: --:--:--

About George F. L. Charles Airport (Castries)

George F. L. Charles Airport (Castries) is an airport with the ICAO code TLPC and the IATA code SLU. Country: Saint Lucia. Nearest settlement listed in the database: Castries. OurAirports classifies it as a medium-sized airport. Its ICAO code starts with the TL prefix, which marks airports in Saint Lucia. The four-letter code TLPC is used in flight operations and weather reports, while the three-letter IATA code SLU is used for ticketing and baggage handling. The airport reference point sits at 14°01'13"N, 60°59'34"W, at an elevation of 22 ft (7 m) above sea level. The applicable time zone is America/St_Vincent.

Satellite view of TLPC

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 TLPC

ThresholdCourseLengthWidthSurface
0990°1,748 m (5,735 ft)45 m (148 ft)asphalt
27270°

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 George F. L. Charles Airport (Castries) - statistics from METAR reports

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

We computed these statistics from 14,683 METAR reports issued by TLPC in 2023-2025. VFR conditions prevailed 71% of the time, MVFR 29% and IFR or LIFR <1%. Best month for VFR flying: September (81% of hours VFR). Most IFR and LIFR hours: June (1%).

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

Fog practically did not occur here. Thunderstorms (TS) occurred on 12 days a year on average, and snowfall practically never.

The wind most often blows from E (90°) - 48% of reports. Calm (0 kt) made up 2% of reports, and gusts of 25 kt or more appeared in <1%. Warmest month: September (average high 32.1 °C); coldest: January (average low 24.9 °C).

Year

Selected period in numbers: 2023-2025

VFR hours
71%
IFR/LIFR hours
<1%
Avg high
30.6 °C
Avg low
26.5 °C
Fog days
0
Thunderstorm days
12
Snow days
0
Prevailing wind
E · 48%
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 65%, MVFR 35%, IFR 1%, LIFR 0%JanFebruary: VFR 69%, MVFR 31%, IFR <1%, LIFR 0%FebMarch: VFR 72%, MVFR 27%, IFR <1%, LIFR 0%MarApril: VFR 72%, MVFR 27%, IFR <1%, LIFR 0%AprMay: VFR 66%, MVFR 33%, IFR 1%, LIFR <1%MayJune: VFR 56%, MVFR 43%, IFR 1%, LIFR 0%JunJuly: VFR 60%, MVFR 40%, IFR <1%, LIFR 0%JulAugust: VFR 74%, MVFR 26%, IFR <1%, LIFR 0%AugSeptember: VFR 81%, MVFR 18%, IFR 1%, LIFR 0%SeptOctober: VFR 78%, MVFR 21%, IFR <1%, LIFR <1%OctNovember: VFR 78%, MVFR 22%, IFR <1%, LIFR 0%NovDecember: VFR 76%, MVFR 24%, IFR <1%, LIFR <1%Dec
  • VFR 71%
  • MVFR 29%
  • IFR <1%
  • LIFR <1%
Temperature month by month
Chart: average daily high and low temperature in each month0°5°10°15°20°25°30°35°January: 24.9 … 28.9 °C2925JanFebruary: 25.1 … 29.0 °C2925FebMarch: 25.5 … 29.8 °C3026MarApril: 26.4 … 30.6 °C3126AprMay: 27.2 … 31.4 °C3127MayJune: 27.4 … 31.1 °C3127JunJuly: 27.1 … 30.9 °C3127JulAugust: 27.5 … 31.7 °C3227AugSeptember: 27.4 … 32.1 °C3227SeptOctober: 27.4 … 31.9 °C3227OctNovember: 26.7 … 30.6 °C3127NovDecember: 25.7 … 29.6 °C3026Dec

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%50%N: 1%NNE: 1%NE: 1%ENE: 9%E: 48%ESE: 24%SE: 6%SSE: 2%S: 2%SSW: <1%SW: <1%WSW: <1%W: 1%WNW: <1%NW: <1%NNW: <1%NNNENEENEEESESESSESSSWSWWSWWWNWNWNNWE 48%

Wind rose

  • 1-10 kt
  • 11-20 kt
  • over 20 kt
  • calm: 2%

Most often: E - 48% 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
January28.924.965%1%000
February29.025.169%<1%000
March29.825.572%<1%000
April30.626.472%<1%000
May31.427.266%1%00.40
June31.127.456%1%01.40
July30.927.160%<1%00.70
August31.727.574%<1%010
September32.127.481%1%04.40
October31.927.478%<1%03.80
November30.626.778%<1%00.40
December29.625.776%1%000

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 TLPC

According to OurAirports data (compiled from AIP and FAA sources), George F. L. Charles Airport (Castries) has one runway: 09/27 - 1,748 m long (5,735 ft), 45 m wide, asphalt surface.

Runway headings and wind

The thresholds are oriented as follows: 09/27 on 90° and 270° 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 09/27 axis, wind from the south (around 180°) or from the north (around 360°) blows perpendicular to the runway and produces the largest crosswind component. Wind from around 90° or 270° 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 TLPC

Weather reports for George F. L. Charles Airport (Castries) are published under the ICAO code TLPC. 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 TLPC 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 TLPC, check the nearby airports listed below.

Reports always use UTC (the Z suffix). The America/St_Vincent zone stays at GMT-04:00 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 Hewanorra International Airport (Vieux Fort) (TLPL, 32 km), Martinique Aimé Césaire International Airport (Fort-de-France) (TFFF, 63 km), Argyle International Airport (Kingstown) (TVSA, 97 km). When no report is available for TLPC, they usually give the best approximation of conditions in the area.

METAR Academy

Something unclear in the TLPC 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 TLPC goes back to 08/01/1973. Pick a date and see every observation from that day.

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