Washington Dulles International Airport (KIAD / IAD)

United States · elevation 312 ft AMSL · 38.9445, -77.4558 · Local time: --:--:-- · UTC time: --:--:--

About Washington Dulles International Airport

Washington Dulles International Airport is an airport with the ICAO code KIAD and the IATA code IAD. Country: United States. Nearest settlement listed in the database: Washington. OurAirports classifies it as a large airport. Its ICAO code starts with the KI prefix, which marks airports in United States. The four-letter code KIAD is used in flight operations and weather reports, while the three-letter IATA code IAD is used for ticketing and baggage handling. The airport reference point sits at 38°56'40"N, 77°27'21"W, at an elevation of 312 ft (95 m) above sea level. The applicable time zone is America/New_York.

Satellite view of KIAD

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 KIAD

ThresholdCourseLengthWidthSurface
01C10°3,505 m (11,500 ft)46 m (150 ft)asphalt
19C190°
01L10°2,865 m (9,400 ft)46 m (150 ft)asphalt
19R190°
01R10°3,505 m (11,500 ft)46 m (150 ft)asphalt
19L190°
12120°3,201 m (10,501 ft)46 m (150 ft)asphalt
30300°

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 Washington Dulles International Airport - statistics from METAR reports

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

We computed these statistics from 26,270 METAR reports issued by KIAD in 2023-2025. VFR conditions prevailed 85% of the time, MVFR 8% and IFR or LIFR 7%. Best month for VFR flying: November (92% of hours VFR). Most IFR and LIFR hours: December (11%).

Through the day, IFR or LIFR conditions are most frequent around 11:00 UTC (10% of reports at that hour) and least frequent around 01:00 UTC (4%).

Fog (FG) was reported on 10 days a year on average, most often in December. Thunderstorms (TS) occurred on 33 days a year on average, and snowfall on 11.

The wind most often blows from S (180°) - 12% of reports. Calm (0 kt) made up 17% of reports, and gusts of 25 kt or more appeared in 4%. Warmest month: July (average high 32.4 °C); coldest: January (average low -1.1 °C).

Year

Selected period in numbers: 2023-2025

VFR hours
85%
IFR/LIFR hours
7%
Avg high
20.4 °C
Avg low
9.5 °C
Fog days
10
Thunderstorm days
33
Snow days
11
Prevailing wind
S · 12%
Gusts ≥ 25 kt
4%

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 83%, MVFR 8%, IFR 6%, LIFR 2%JanFebruary: VFR 86%, MVFR 7%, IFR 5%, LIFR 3%FebMarch: VFR 85%, MVFR 7%, IFR 6%, LIFR 1%MarApril: VFR 85%, MVFR 9%, IFR 4%, LIFR 1%AprMay: VFR 81%, MVFR 11%, IFR 7%, LIFR 1%MayJune: VFR 84%, MVFR 8%, IFR 7%, LIFR 2%JunJuly: VFR 91%, MVFR 7%, IFR 2%, LIFR 1%JulAugust: VFR 85%, MVFR 10%, IFR 4%, LIFR <1%AugSeptember: VFR 77%, MVFR 14%, IFR 9%, LIFR 1%SeptOctober: VFR 90%, MVFR 7%, IFR 3%, LIFR <1%OctNovember: VFR 92%, MVFR 5%, IFR 2%, LIFR 1%NovDecember: VFR 81%, MVFR 8%, IFR 6%, LIFR 5%Dec
  • VFR 85%
  • MVFR 8%
  • IFR 5%
  • LIFR 1%
Temperature month by month
Chart: average daily high and low temperature in each month−5°0°5°10°15°20°25°30°35°January: -1.1 … 7.3 °C7−1JanFebruary: 0.8 … 11.2 °C111FebMarch: 4.0 … 16.0 °C164MarApril: 9.5 … 21.6 °C229AprMay: 13.3 … 24.1 °C2413MayJune: 17.8 … 29.6 °C3018JunJuly: 21.7 … 32.4 °C3222JulAugust: 18.8 … 29.7 °C3019AugSeptember: 16.2 … 26.6 °C2716SeptOctober: 8.8 … 21.5 °C219OctNovember: 3.8 … 15.3 °C154NovDecember: -0.5 … 8.7 °C90Dec

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: 2%ENE: 2%E: 3%ESE: 2%SE: 3%SSE: 6%S: 12%SSW: 7%SW: 2%WSW: 1%W: 3%WNW: 7%NW: 11%NNW: 8%NNNENEENEEESESESSESSSWSWWSWWWNWNWNNWS 12%

Wind rose

  • 1-10 kt
  • 11-20 kt
  • over 20 kt
  • calm: 17%

Most often: S - 12% 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
January7.3-1.183%8%2.304.7
February11.20.886%8%10.33.3
March16.04.085%8%0.70.30.3
April21.69.585%6%020
May24.113.381%8%0.75.30
June29.617.884%9%0.34.70
July32.421.791%3%0.3110
August29.718.885%4%05.70
September26.616.277%9%0.32.30
October21.58.890%3%0.30.70
November15.33.892%3%0.700.3
December8.7-0.581%11%3.30.72.7

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 KIAD

According to OurAirports data (compiled from AIP and FAA sources), Washington Dulles International Airport has 4 runways: 01C/19C - 3,505 m long (11,500 ft), 46 m wide, asphalt surface; 01L/19R - 2,865 m long (9,400 ft), 46 m wide, asphalt surface; 01R/19L - 3,505 m long (11,500 ft), 46 m wide, asphalt surface; 12/30 - 3,201 m long (10,501 ft), 46 m wide, asphalt surface.

The longest of them is 01C/19C, at 3,505 m.

Runway headings and wind

The thresholds are oriented as follows: 01C/19C on 10° and 190° magnetic, 01L/19R on 10° and 190° magnetic, 01R/19L on 10° and 190° magnetic, 12/30 on 120° and 300° 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 01C/19C axis, wind from the east (around 100°) or from the west (around 280°) blows perpendicular to the runway and produces the largest crosswind component. Wind from around 10° or 190° 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 KIAD

Weather reports for Washington Dulles International Airport are published under the ICAO code KIAD. 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 KIAD 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 KIAD, check the nearby airports listed below.

Reports always use UTC (the Z suffix). The America/New_York zone is GMT-05:00 in winter and GMT-04:00 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 Leesburg Executive Airport (KJYO, 17 km), Washington Manassas Harry P. Davis Field (KHEF, 25 km), Davison Army Air Field (Fort Belvoir) (KDAA, 35 km). When no report is available for KIAD, 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 KIAD goes back to 16/11/1962. Pick a date and see every observation from that day.

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Live weather from KIAD on your website

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