What's with the AWOS at KRNP?

[azure]

The last few days the AWOS at KRNP has been reporting some crazy wx... here is a sample over the last 6 hrs, with reports from KFNT less than 20 nm away for comparison.

KFNT 262153Z 30006KT 10SM CLR 30/16 A2995 RMK AO2 SLP138 T03000156
KFNT 262053Z VRB03KT 10SM CLR 31/16 A2998 RMK AO2 SLP146 T03060156 58019
KFNT 261953Z VRB03KT 10SM BKN060 31/16 A3000 RMK AO2 SLP154 T03060156
KFNT 261853Z 00000KT 10SM SCT055 30/17 A3001 RMK AO2 SLP158 T03000172
KFNT 261753Z 00000KT 10SM FEW060 29/16 A3003 RMK AO2 SLP165 T02940161 10300 20183 58013
KFNT 261653Z 00000KT 10SM FEW050 29/16 A3005 RMK AO2 SLP171 T02890161

KRNP 262135Z AUTO 06003KT 3/4SM HZ VV005 28/16 A2996 RMK AO2
KRNP 262115Z AUTO 00000KT 3SM HZ CLR 29/16 A2996 RMK AO2
KRNP 262055Z AUTO 00000KT 4SM -RA CLR 30/14 A2997 RMK AO2
KRNP 262035Z AUTO 33005KT 1SM -RA VV007 30/14 A2998 RMK AO2 VIS 1/4V5
KRNP 262015Z AUTO 29004KT 3SM HZ CLR 30/13 A2999 RMK AO2
KRNP 261955Z AUTO 00000KT 2SM HZ CLR 30/15 A2999 RMK AO2
KRNP 261935Z AUTO 00000KT 2SM HZ CLR 30/13 A3000 RMK AO2 VIS 3/4V5
KRNP 261915Z AUTO 36006KT 7SM SCT055 30/16 A3001 RMK AO2
KRNP 261855Z AUTO 04005KT 5SM HZ SCT055 30/17 A3001 RMK AO2
KRNP 261835Z AUTO 02003KT 1 1/2SM HZ SCT055 28/15 A3002 RMK AO2 VIS 3/4V5
KRNP 261815Z AUTO 00000KT 3SM HZ SCT050 SCT065 28/16 A3003 RMK AO2
KRNP 261755Z AUTO 00000KT 3/4SM HZ BKN050 BKN065 30/14 A3003 RMK AO2
KRNP 261735Z AUTO 01005KT 1/2SM HZ BKN050 29/16 A3004 RMK AO2
KRNP 261715Z AUTO 00000KT 1 1/4SM HZ SCT050 28/16 A3005 RMK AO2
KRNP 261655Z AUTO 05004KT 3/4SM HZ VV005 28/16 A3005 RMK AO2

For a moment I thought maybe they had a fire in the vicinity, but it's not just today. Last week I flew about 5 nm from KRNP just as the station was reporting 1 SM visibility. It was clear as a bell. I know, stuff happens, but it's strange to see this going on for so long without so much as a "mx needed" symbol tacked on ($ IIRC) to hint that something is up.

 

[bobmrg]

I think that a spider has built a web across the sensor.

Bob Gardner

 

[JoeSelch]

I've noticed crazy low viz in the past at KRNP (Owosso) - so consistently so (over a period of years) that I was thinking they ought to just scrap their AWOS if they're not going to maintain it.
I mean, it may be undeniably CAVU, but if Something Bad happened, I could just imagine the accident report showing reported wx below minimums -> Bad Pilot.

 

[bbchien]

Someone needs to go wash the bird poop off the lens.

 

[azure]

I'm with you on that, Liz. It's not as if that AWOS is old and rickety though, they just got it something like 5 years ago. I have an old chart from 2003 when they were still 5D3, and AWOS-less.

I've noticed that Howell's (KOZW) often reports phony haze and low viz too. That's even worse as far as I'm concerned, since it's a pretty busy field with lots of traffic and quite a few aircraft based there.

 

[skyflyer8]

I've seen a case where the airport snowplow throwing snow caused a report of 3/4 mile visibility when it was perfectly clear out.