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Dots for rain, stars for snow, triangles for hail — and doubling means heavier.
Also known as: Weather symbols on a chart, Dots and stars on a weather map
A pictographic set plotted to the left of the station circle. The logic is consistent enough to guess at: the mark says what is falling, and how many of them says how hard.
A coded set of about a hundred symbols recording the weather at the time of observation, plotted to the left of the station circle: dots for rain, commas for drizzle, six-pointed stars for snow, triangles for hail and an angular glyph for thunderstorm.
Contexts: Maps
Intensity is shown by repetition and arrangement: one dot is light rain, two moderate, three heavy, and a vertical arrangement distinguishes continuous from intermittent.
A separate past-weather symbol records what happened in the hours before the observation, which is why a chart can show a station in clear air that has just had a thunderstorm.
Small marks plotted beside a circle: groups of round dots, comma shapes, six-pointed stars, small solid triangles, or an angular zigzag with a downward arrow.
Forecast pictograms and synoptic present-weather symbols look related and are unconnected systems.