Cloud Height METARs MET

Cloud ceiling is the lowest cloud covering at least half the sky below 20,000'. Intuitively, this makes sense - the ceiling above you wouldn't be much of a ceiling if more than half of it was exposed to sky. For practical purposes, broken (BKNBKN —METARMETAR —Meteorological Actual Report/TAFTAF —Terminal Aerodrome Forecast code for 5-7 oktas of cloud) and overcast (OVCOVC —METAR/TAFTAF —Terminal Aerodrome Forecast code for 8 oktas of cloud) clouds count as at least half - scattered and few do not.

To answer the question, look for the first group of clouds in each METARMETAR —Meteorological Actual Report that is BKNBKN —METARMETAR —Meteorological Actual Report/TAFTAF —Terminal Aerodrome Forecast code for 5-7 oktas of cloud or OVCOVC —METAR/TAFTAF —Terminal Aerodrome Forecast code for 8 oktas of cloud - that is the ceiling. Multiply the number after the letters by 100 to get the ceiling, measured in feet.