aviation weather center focused on the safety of the flying public
DESCRIPTION
AVIATION WEATHER CENTER FOCUSED ON THE SAFETY OF THE FLYING PUBLIC. American Meteorological Society January 14-18,2001 Albuquerque, New Mexico. AWC HISTORICAL BACKGROUND. 1939-Weather Bureau begins an expansion of aviation services Area Forecast and 30 terminal forecasts issued from MKC - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
AVIATION WEATHER CENTERFOCUSED ON THE SAFETY OF
THE FLYING PUBLIC
American Meteorological Society
January 14-18,2001
Albuquerque, New Mexico
AWC HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
1939 - Weather Bureau begins an expansion of aviation services
Area Forecast and 30 terminal forecasts issued from MKC
1944 - Flight Advisory Weather Service (FAWS) established
1978 - Convective SIGMET unit established within NSSFC
1982 - National Aviation Weather Advisory Unit (NAWAU)
1995 - Aviation Weather Center (AWC) established
MISSION STATEMENT
to apply the NWS mission...Protection of Life and Property
...to the National Airspace System (NAS)
for the Aviation Weather Center
ECONOMIC - Support the aviation industry with ADVANTAGE meteorological information to
economically utilize international airspace
INTERNATIONAL - Implement the agreements of the ICAO to COMMITMENTS support international aviation
SAFETY - Support the mission of the FAA to safely operate the NAS in an environment of weather hazards
CRITICAL ELEMENTS FOR AVIATION WEATHER FORECASTING
• Observations – Surface– Upper Air– PIREPS
• Numerical Forecasts – NCEP/EMC & NCO• Communications• Display
– National Focus– International Scale
• Product Generation
OPERATIONS BRANCH
Vision: Transition to future enroute forecasting activities and products.Current formats may be sustained until customers modernize
Current Forecaster Role
Future Forecaster RoleNear Term
• Graphic Products
• Enhanced Global SIGWX
Long Term
• Gridded Products
• Gridded TAF Guidance
Major Efforts• Training of 36 forecasters in advanced systems,
forecast generation techniques and new science
• Transition to Team Forecast Process
• Alphanumeric messages - turbulence, icing, convection, ceiling/visibility::SIGMETs, Convective SIGMETs, AIRMETs, Area Forecasts
• Graphic depiction of SIGWX - fronts, jets, convection, freezing levels, etc:Global High Level SIGWX forecasts, Low Level SIGWX forecasts
The Forecast Area at AWC
7X24 Surveillance
CCFP (Summer 98, 99, 2000)
Global Graphics
Area Forecasts
DOMESTIC PROGRAM
3 Forecasters issue Area Forecasts, AIRMETs, SIGMETs
Product List Domestic (CONUS)
Area Forecast
AIRMETs/SIGMETs: icing, turbulence, IFR, volcanic
ash
Convective SIGMETs - thunderstorms (1hr.)
New: CCFP - thunderstorms outlook (2/4/6 hrs)
Low Level SIGWX