Weather reporting question

dbahn

dbahn

Pattern Altitude
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Dave Bahnson
(I've posted this on the red board but, surprisingly, no one has stepped up to remind me that I should know the answer, which I don't.)

At my home field, RUT (Rutland, Vermont) the AWOS isn't working and the Surface Observations that come up on DUATS just says, "No report available". Flying back from Maine last weekend, FSS could not give me the RUT weather, but Boston Center had access to it. When I re-checked it later with FSS they still could not get it, but when I told them that Center had given it to me, he said he'd check "something else" then came up with it. (Bad news - it was 300 ft OC and 1 mile, well below minimums :( ) When I couldn't get in and had to land nearby (only 35 miles away, BTW, where there was 40 miles of vis and 9000 ft scattered) I was able to pull it up on the METAR as soon as I could get to a computer.

So why is it that DUATS and FSS just report it as unavailable when it's available as a METAR? How is the METAR obtained if the AWOS isn't working?
 
dbahn said:
So why is it that DUATS and FSS just report it as unavailable when it's available as a METAR? How is the METAR obtained if the AWOS isn't working?
Click to expand...

There is something whacky about the FSS computers. For example, they get TAFs 1/2 hour or more later than they're available on other approved sources like ADDS and WeatherTAP. I was talking to a briefer one time and brought up an amended TAF on ADDS. He couldn't see the amended forecast...

I'm not sure about the answer to your question, but I believe only an ASOS can generate METARS, and that an AWOS cannot (see A.I.M. 7-1-11 & 12).

An ASOS reports data over three distribution methods -- via radio to pilots, via phone, and via datalink. As far as I know, they operate independently, so that if one or two fail, the remaining link(s) still work. For example, at my home field, there is no datalink for the ASOS. Thus METARS are generated, and the info available by phone or radio, but they never make into the FSS computers.
 
... I believe only an ASOS can generate METARS, and that an AWOS cannot (see A.I.M. 7-1-11 & 12)...
Click to expand...
There are lots of AWOS-equipped airports around here that generate METARs, e.g. KMTN, KFDK, KESN, KFME...
-harry
 
So I wonder what's happening here at RUT. I can get METARS, and can dial up the AWOS and get the current weather, but nothing shows up in DUATS, and FSS just relays what DUATS reports, ie. "no report available."
 
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