KPAO Palo Alto

WIND_INFERRED 80%

Runway 31 — favored by the wind (4 kt at 310° true)

Based on wind only — no traffic or ATIS to confirm. No D-ATIS feed here — a voice ATIS/AWOS may exist; check the frequency. Weather observation is 295 minutes old — treat with caution.

certainty: 80% evidence: NONE Class D

Wind 310° true at 4 kt · VFR · 295 min old

▶ Listen live — ATIS/CTAF on LiveATC opens LiveATC’s own player · verify the broadcast yourself

31 82% 2441 ft · 4 kt head, 1 kt x-left · right traffic

13 18% 2441 ft · 4 kt TAIL, 1 kt x-right

Active NOTAMs affecting runways

LIGHTING RWY 13 until 11-30 23:59Z

RWY 13 RWY END ID LGT U/S

Why — evidence behind this answer

Runway 31

PRIOR 31 used 96% of the time in this wind bin (n=48) +1.38
WIND 4 kt headwind, 1 kt left crosswind 295 min ago +0.02

Runway 13

WIND 4 kt TAILWIND, 1 kt right crosswind 295 min ago -0.09
PRIOR 13 used 4% of the time in this wind bin (n=48) -0.06

Sources consulted

source	status	age	note
D_ATIS	UNAVAILABLE		No D-ATIS at this field
METAR	OK	295 min
ADSB	OK	1 min	GOOD
NOTAM	OK
CIFP	NOT_CONFIGURED		Instrument procedures: phase 4

Recent operations

No operations observed in the last hour.

Was this right?

KPAO field & runways

Palo Alto, Palo Alto, California. Field elevation 7 ft. Class D airspace. Towered. Magnetic variation 15.0°E on record, 12.7°E today.

The FAA's variation of record is the number this field was surveyed against; the second is where north points now, from WMM2025. It is moving 0.089°/year west — about 1° every 11 years — which is why runway numbers eventually stop matching their pavement.

Runway data from the FAA NASR 01 Oct 2026 cycle. Where NASR locates both thresholds, the true heading is the bearing between them rather than NASR's whole-degree alignment. Magnetic is that heading against *today's* declination from WMM2025, not the field's variation of record — so it can differ from the chart by the gap between the two shown above. The number painted on the runway is the one ATC uses.
Runway	True	Magnetic	Number	Length	Surface	Pattern	Notes
13	141.8°	129.1°	matches	2,441 ft	ASPH	left
31	321.8°	309.1°	matches	2,441 ft	ASPH	right

What KPAO usually does

Of 5,238 operations this service has observed at KPAO since 2026-08-25:

31 93% 4873 ops
13 7% 365 ops

Observed by this service only — not an FAA statistic, and biased toward the hours and days it has been watching. It is shown because it is the same history the engine learns its local-convention prior from.

Generated 08:42:07Z · auto-refreshes · JSON

KPAO ☆ Palo Alto