United States · elevation 1789 ft AMSL
· 32.4208, -99.8546
Dyess Air Force Base (Abilene) is an airport with the ICAO code KDYS and the IATA code DYS. Country: United States. Nearest settlement listed in the database: Abilene. OurAirports classifies it as a medium-sized airport. Its ICAO code starts with the KD prefix, which marks airports in United States. The four-letter code KDYS is used in flight operations and weather reports, while the three-letter IATA code DYS is used for ticketing and baggage handling. The airport reference point sits at 32°25'15"N, 99°51'17"W, at an elevation of 1,789 ft (545 m) above sea level. The applicable time zone is America/Chicago.
Aerial imagery showing the runway and apron layout - the zoom is matched to the longest runway.
| Threshold | Course | Length | Width | Surface |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | 160° | 4,115 m (13,500 ft) | 91 m (300 ft) | asphalt |
| 34 | 340° | |||
| 161 | 160° | 1,067 m (3,500 ft) | 18 m (60 ft) | grass |
| 341 | 340° | |||
| 162 | 160° | 1,067 m (3,500 ft) | 18 m (60 ft) | asphalt |
| 342 | 340° |
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.
What the METAR reports from KDYS for 2023-2025 show - counted hour by hour.
We computed these statistics from 25,355 METAR reports issued by KDYS in 2023-2025. VFR conditions prevailed 89% of the time, MVFR 7% and IFR or LIFR 4%. Best month for VFR flying: August (99% of hours VFR). Most IFR and LIFR hours: January (11%).
Through the day, IFR or LIFR conditions are most frequent around 14:00 UTC (8% of reports at that hour) and least frequent around 00:00 UTC (2%).
Fog (FG) was reported on 3.3 days a year on average, most often in January. Thunderstorms (TS) occurred on 32 days a year on average, and snowfall on 3.7.
The wind most often blows from S (180°) - 21% of reports. Calm (0 kt) made up 8% of reports, and gusts of 25 kt or more appeared in 6%. Warmest month: August (average high 38.2 °C); coldest: January (average low 1.1 °C).
Day counts are for the selected period (for all years - the yearly average).
The top of each bar is the average daily high, the bottom the average daily low (usually around dawn), in °C.
Most often: S - 21% 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 | Avg high °C | Avg low °C | VFR | IFR/LIFR | Fog days | Thunderstorm days | Snow days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 14.0 | 1.1 | 80% | 11% | 1.7 | 0.7 | 2.3 |
| February | 19.1 | 4.5 | 83% | 7% | 0.3 | 1 | 1.3 |
| March | 23.8 | 9.3 | 88% | 4% | 0.3 | 2.7 | 0 |
| April | 27.2 | 12.8 | 87% | 4% | 0 | 4.7 | 0 |
| May | 30.4 | 17.7 | 87% | 5% | 0.3 | 8.4 | 0 |
| June | 34.7 | 22.4 | 91% | 3% | 0 | 4.5 | 0 |
| July | 36.1 | 23.1 | 96% | 1% | 0 | 2.7 | 0 |
| August | 38.2 | 24.2 | 99% | <1% | 0 | 1.7 | 0 |
| September | 32.9 | 19.9 | 92% | 4% | 0 | 3.1 | 0 |
| October | 28.8 | 14.8 | 93% | 3% | 0.3 | 1 | 0 |
| November | 21.9 | 8.8 | 87% | 4% | 0.3 | 1.7 | 0 |
| December | 18.8 | 5.3 | 86% | 5% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Temperatures are averages of daily highs and lows. Day counts are the average per month over the period.
According to OurAirports data (compiled from AIP and FAA sources), Dyess Air Force Base (Abilene) has 3 runways: 16/34 - 4,115 m long (13,500 ft), 91 m wide, asphalt surface; 161/341 - 1,067 m long (3,500 ft), 18 m wide, grass surface; 162/342 - 1,067 m long (3,500 ft), 18 m wide, asphalt surface.
The longest of them is 16/34, at 4,115 m.
The airport combines paved and grass surfaces: 2 paved and 1 grass runways.
The thresholds are oriented as follows: 16/34 on 160° and 340° magnetic, 161/341 on 160° and 340° magnetic, 162/342 on 160° and 340° 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 16/34 axis, wind from the west (around 250°) or from the east (around 70°) blows perpendicular to the runway and produces the largest crosswind component. Wind from around 160° or 340° acts along the runway, as a headwind or a tailwind. The decoder on this page computes those components automatically from the current METAR.
Weather reports for Dyess Air Force Base (Abilene) are published under the ICAO code KDYS. 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 KDYS 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 KDYS, check the nearby airports listed below.
Reports always use UTC (the Z suffix). The America/Chicago zone is GMT-06:00 in winter and GMT-05:00 in summer - that is the shift to apply to the time in the report to get local time at the airport.
The closest airports in the database, measured in a straight line from the reference point, are Abilene Regional Airport (KABI, 16 km), Avenger Field (Sweetwater) (KSWW, 58 km), Coleman Municipal Airport (KCOM, 77 km). When no report is available for KDYS, they usually give the best approximation of conditions in the area.
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Check VFR MapThe METAR archive for KDYS goes back to 01/12/1943. Pick a date and see every observation from that day.
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