Present weather
Also called current weather symbol, ww symbol, weather code
Station model. What an observer recorded, not a weather-app forecast.
Present weather and station modelsPresent weather meaning
A present-weather symbol is the observation mark beside a station circle, used only when precipitation or reduced visibility is occurring. It is not a forecast icon.
At a glance
- System
- WMO present-weather code, on a NOAA plot
- Used for
- Weather occurring at the station
- Not the same as
- The forecast icon for the same word
The sign plotted beside a station when weather is occurring. Not a forecast icon, and not all one hundred codes.
The name. Present weather is the side symbol on a station plot. It belongs to the observing codes, including the family of WMO code table 4677.
Where it comes from
The Weather Prediction Center plots that sign only for falling precipitation or a visibility restriction. The codes behind it sort current and recent conditions, type, and intensity. WMO code table 4677 is the long list. This cabinet does not draw every code. It keeps the slot, and it sends rain, snow, drizzle, hail, fog, haze, thunder, and dust to the pages that explain those words as forecasts and, in the same breath, as observations. The glyph in a particular code book is not claimed by the line drawing here.
The line drawing is original to this cabinet. It is not an agency logo, a vendor icon, or the emoji for the same idea.
Weather
What it means
Someone at a station, or an automated sensor under a code, reported weather happening. Past weather, when a plot shows it, is a further mark for what happened in a recent window. A forecast of the same noun is an expectation for a period. The English word can match. The symbol system does not.
Variants
The codes not drawn
Intensity, showers versus continuous fall, and recent versus current weather are why the code table is long. Drawing all of it would pretend each code was a public app icon. The table stays with the services that maintain it.
Questions
What is a present weather symbol?
It is the mark on a station plot for weather that is happening: precipitation or a restriction to visibility. The Weather Prediction Center leaves it off when neither is true.
Where are all the WMO weather codes?
In the observing tables, including code table 4677. This line does not redraw that table. It explains the plot and the conditions people mix up with phone icons.
Near this
- Station modelThe whole observation plot. Sky in the circle, wind on the barb, weather only if something is falling or the air is thick.
- RainA forecast icon for rain expected in a period. Not a shower, not drizzle, and not the station-model sign.
- FogA forecast icon for fog. Not mist, not haze, and not the fog character.
- SnowA forecast icon for expected snow. Not a snow shower, not sleet, and not a snowman.
Sources
- Weather Prediction Center, station plot
- Weather Prediction Center, surface weather symbols
- NOAA JetStream, station models
Named when the entry depends on a text, a date, or a standard. Catalog numbers are not invented.
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symbol.wiki, edited as Sigilla. Last reviewed 18 October 2026. A reading of public tradition, not a ruling.