Why do pilots announce the temperature of destination while landing?

Paul England, certificated private pilot with time in a variety of types.

Written 30 Dec 2016 · Upvoted by Jeff Loftin, Former USAF fighter pilot, current Boeing 767 captain and Tim Hibbetts, Naval Aviator, Airline Pilot, Aerospace Eng Maj

When making an approach to an airport, a pilot always retrieves something called a METAR, which is short for meteorology report. It looks something like this:

This is critical to know what to expect at our destination, regarding winds, precipitation or whatever else.

Since your pilot already has this info, it’s something he or she can add as useful to you. Will you want to pull your coat from your bag? Grab an umbrella on the way out of the airport?

It keeps the briefing from being simply “uh, we’re almost there, so, uh, please stay seated and we’ll let you know when we’re there”.