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A circle surrounded by numbers, each position meaning a fixed thing.
Also known as: Plotted observation, Circle with numbers round it on a weather map, Weather station symbol
One observation compressed into a few square centimetres. The circle shows cloud cover, a shaft shows wind, and every number around it sits in a position reserved for one quantity — so a forecaster reads dozens without labels.
A fixed arrangement plotting one weather observation: a central circle shaded to show cloud cover, a shaft and barbs for wind, and numerals in reserved positions for temperature, dew point, pressure, visibility and pressure tendency.
Contexts: Maps
Position is the label. Nothing on the model is annotated, because every quantity has a reserved place round the circle, and that is what lets a chart carry hundreds of complete observations legibly.
The pressure figure is abbreviated to three digits with the leading 10 or 9 omitted, so 148 means 1014.8 millibars. Reading it as 148 of anything is the classic beginner's error.
Three digits, tenths of a millibar, leading digits assumed.
Designed for telegraph transmission: the model plots a numeric code group that could be sent compactly, which is why it encodes so much in so little space and why it looks nothing like a public forecast.
A small circle, partly or wholly filled, with a straight line projecting from it carrying short barbs, and groups of two- and three-digit numerals placed to its left, right and below.
The station model is what is plotted at each point on the chart.
The wind barb is the shaft attached to the station circle.