Definition
A National Weather Service office located within each FAA Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) that provides aviation-specific weather support to air traffic controllers and traffic managers. CWSU meteorologists issue Center Weather Advisories (CWAs) and Meteorological Impact Statements (MISs) describing hazardous or operationally significant weather affecting that Center's airspace.
Plain English
A small team of weather forecasters who sit inside each Center that controls high-altitude traffic. They watch the weather in that Center's piece of airspace and warn the controllers when something is about to cause problems for flights.
Context Anchor
You may see CWSU in weather, air traffic, and flight planning material, especially when weather affects traffic across a large region rather than at just one airport.
Derivation
Central refers to the ARTCC (Air Route Traffic Control Center) the unit serves. Each Center covers a large region of en route airspace, so the weather unit attached to it serves that region centrally rather than serving a single airport.
Why Pilots Care
Delivers timely weather information that directly affects route choices, hazard avoidance, and flight safety decisions.
Intuition Check
Do not assume a CWSU is a public weather briefing desk for individual pilots. Its main job is to support air traffic control with aviation weather information.
Example Sentence 1
The CWSU at the Kansas City Center issued a Center Weather Advisory for a developing line of thunderstorms along the eastern edge of its airspace.
Example Sentence 2
Controllers at the ARTCC rely on the CWSU for updated turbulence advisories across the sector.