Definition
An automated airport weather station that measures and reports current surface weather conditions, including wind, visibility, cloud height, temperature, dew point, altimeter setting, and precipitation. AWSS is functionally equivalent to ASOS (Automated Surface Observing System) but is owned and maintained by the FAA rather than the National Weather Service. It transmits its observations by computer-generated voice over a discrete radio frequency and over the telephone, and feeds data into national weather networks.
Plain English
AWSS is an unmanned weather station at an airport that automatically measures the weather and broadcasts it to pilots over a radio frequency or by phone.
Context Anchor
Pilots encounter AWSS information when checking airport weather before departure, during flight planning, or before flying an approach or landing at an airport.
Why Pilots Care
It supplies essential real-time weather data for safe takeoff, landing, and instrument approach decisions at airports that lack on-site human weather observers.
Intuition Check
AWSS is not a forecast and it is not air traffic control. It reports current measured weather at that airport.
Example Sentence 1
Twenty miles out, the pilot tuned the AWSS frequency to get the current wind and altimeter setting before starting the approach.
Example Sentence 2
AWSS data is fed directly into the national aviation weather network for use by pilots and controllers.