Definition
A general category of unstaffed weather reporting installations that use sensors to measure atmospheric conditions at an airport and broadcast the results automatically. The category covers the various federal and non-federal systems in use, including AWOS (Automated Weather Observing System), ASOS (Automated Surface Observing System), and AWSS (Automated Weather Sensor System), each with its own sensor configuration and reporting capability.
Plain English
A weather station at an airport that runs on its own, with no person on duty. It measures the weather using instruments and broadcasts the report by radio or phone so pilots can listen in.
Context Anchor
Pilots encounter this during preflight planning, before takeoff, and before landing when checking the latest airport weather.
Why Pilots Care
Gives pilots reliable, real-time weather details at remote or part-time airports so they can make safe decisions about takeoff, landing, and flight routing.
Intuition Check
Do not assume “automated” means the report is a full human weather briefing. Here it means equipment is measuring and reporting the local conditions automatically.
Example Sentence 1
Before departing the uncontrolled field, she tuned the automated weather system on 119.025 to get the current altimeter and wind.
Example Sentence 2
At the small airport with no tower, the Automated Weather System provided the temperature and altimeter setting the pilot needed for the approach.