Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport (KLBB / LBB)

United States · elevation 3282 ft AMSL · 33.6636, -101.8230 · Local time: --:--:-- · UTC time: --:--:--

About Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport

Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport is an airport with the ICAO code KLBB and the IATA code LBB. Country: United States. Nearest settlement listed in the database: Lubbock. OurAirports classifies it as a medium-sized airport. Its ICAO code starts with the KL prefix, which marks airports in United States. The four-letter code KLBB is used in flight operations and weather reports, while the three-letter IATA code LBB is used for ticketing and baggage handling. The airport reference point sits at 33°39'49"N, 101°49'23"W, at an elevation of 3,282 ft (1,000 m) above sea level. The applicable time zone is America/Chicago.

Satellite view of KLBB

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 KLBB

ThresholdCourseLengthWidthSurface
0880°2,439 m (8,003 ft)46 m (150 ft)asphalt
26260°
17L170°881 m (2,891 ft)23 m (74 ft)asphalt
35R350°
17R170°3,505 m (11,500 ft)46 m (150 ft)asphalt
35L350°

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 Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport - statistics from METAR reports

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

We computed these statistics from 26,238 METAR reports issued by KLBB in 2023-2025. VFR conditions prevailed 91% of the time, MVFR 5% and IFR or LIFR 4%. Best month for VFR flying: August (97% of hours VFR). Most IFR and LIFR hours: January (8%).

Through the day, IFR or LIFR conditions are most frequent around 13:00 UTC (7% of reports at that hour) and least frequent around 02:00 UTC (2%).

Fog (FG) was reported on 11 days a year on average, most often in January. Thunderstorms (TS) occurred on 40 days a year on average, and snowfall on 5.3.

The wind most often blows from S (180°) - 14% of reports. Calm (0 kt) made up 3% of reports, and gusts of 25 kt or more appeared in 10%. Warmest month: August (average high 36.3 °C); coldest: January (average low -2.1 °C).

Year

Selected period in numbers: 2023-2025

VFR hours
91%
IFR/LIFR hours
4%
Avg high
26.1 °C
Avg low
11.0 °C
Fog days
11
Thunderstorm days
40
Snow days
5.3
Prevailing wind
S · 14%
Gusts ≥ 25 kt
10%

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 87%, MVFR 5%, IFR 3%, LIFR 5%JanFebruary: VFR 87%, MVFR 8%, IFR 2%, LIFR 3%FebMarch: VFR 90%, MVFR 6%, IFR 3%, LIFR 1%MarApril: VFR 89%, MVFR 7%, IFR 3%, LIFR 1%AprMay: VFR 88%, MVFR 8%, IFR 3%, LIFR 1%MayJune: VFR 92%, MVFR 5%, IFR 2%, LIFR 2%JunJuly: VFR 96%, MVFR 2%, IFR 1%, LIFR <1%JulAugust: VFR 97%, MVFR 2%, IFR 1%, LIFR <1%AugSeptember: VFR 94%, MVFR 4%, IFR 2%, LIFR <1%SeptOctober: VFR 93%, MVFR 4%, IFR 1%, LIFR 2%OctNovember: VFR 87%, MVFR 6%, IFR 3%, LIFR 3%NovDecember: VFR 89%, MVFR 5%, IFR 2%, LIFR 3%Dec
  • VFR 91%
  • MVFR 5%
  • IFR 2%
  • LIFR 2%
Temperature month by month
Chart: average daily high and low temperature in each month−5°5°15°25°35°January: -2.1 … 12.3 °C12−2JanFebruary: 0.7 … 18.1 °C181FebMarch: 5.2 … 22.6 °C235MarApril: 9.9 … 26.7 °C2710AprMay: 14.8 … 29.8 °C3015MayJune: 20.3 … 34.3 °C3420JunJuly: 22.2 … 35.1 °C3522JulAugust: 22.4 … 36.3 °C3622AugSeptember: 17.8 … 31.9 °C3218SeptOctober: 12.5 … 27.6 °C2812OctNovember: 5.5 … 20.6 °C215NovDecember: 1.8 … 17.7 °C182Dec

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: 5%NNE: 3%NE: 4%ENE: 4%E: 6%ESE: 5%SE: 7%SSE: 8%S: 14%SSW: 9%SW: 7%WSW: 6%W: 8%WNW: 4%NW: 3%NNW: 3%NNNENEENEEESESESSESSSWSWWSWWWNWNWNNWS 14%

Wind rose

  • 1-10 kt
  • 11-20 kt
  • over 20 kt
  • calm: 3%

Most often: S - 14% 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
January12.3-2.187%8%3.702
February18.10.787%5%10.32
March22.65.290%4%0.30.70.3
April26.79.989%4%0.73.10.3
May29.814.888%5%0.37.30
June34.320.392%3%0.770
July35.122.296%1%0.37.30
August36.322.497%1%060
September31.917.894%2%0.33.30
October27.612.593%3%1.32.30
November20.65.587%6%1.31.30
December17.71.889%5%0.710.7

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 KLBB

According to OurAirports data (compiled from AIP and FAA sources), Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport has 3 runways: 08/26 - 2,439 m long (8,003 ft), 46 m wide, asphalt surface; 17L/35R - 881 m long (2,891 ft), 23 m wide, asphalt surface; 17R/35L - 3,505 m long (11,500 ft), 46 m wide, asphalt surface.

The longest of them is 17R/35L, at 3,505 m.

Runway headings and wind

The thresholds are oriented as follows: 08/26 on 80° and 260° magnetic, 17L/35R on 170° and 350° magnetic, 17R/35L on 170° and 350° 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 08/26 axis, wind from the south (around 170°) or from the north (around 350°) blows perpendicular to the runway and produces the largest crosswind component. Wind from around 80° or 260° 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 KLBB

Weather reports for Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport are published under the ICAO code KLBB. 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 KLBB 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 KLBB, 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 Levelland Municipal Airport (KLLN, 52 km), Hale County Airport (Plainview) (KPVW, 57 km), Littlefield Municipal Airport (KLIU, 60 km). When no report is available for KLBB, they usually give the best approximation of conditions in the area.

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Nearby airports

Looking for a report from a specific day?

The METAR archive for KLBB goes back to 31/03/1937. Pick a date and see every observation from that day.

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Live weather from KLBB on your website

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