[ACARS] Met Stations

[Dean]

They're automated weather stations, running at airports too small to 
support/need a human observer, though in some cases, the need for the 
station has nothing to do with aviation and it's just out in the middle of 
nowhere.  Since METAR replaced AIRWAYS for reporting purposes here in the 
States, requiring and reporting less information about sky state, these 
things have all but replaced human observers, at least at smaller airfields.

http://205.156.54.206/asos/aum-toc.pdf

http://www.ar-group.com/icaoiata.htm seems to have the more up-to-date 
database regarding these particular stations, but a couple could only be 
found at http://www.nws.noaa.gov/tg/siteloc.shtml .  I'm guessing, but the 
ICAOs that can't be looked up could be new, temporary, or unclassified 
military fields.


Hope this helps.
Dean




At 06:12 PM 9/9/2002, you wrote:
>Folks
>
>A bit off-topic, but perhaps someone can help
>
>While trying to get weather data off the NOAA site I downloaded some data 
>and sorted it in to met station order (the 4-letter airport code). I found 
>these US stations (I assume, from the data format)
>
>K11R 091645Z AUTO 06007KT 10SM SCT016 BKN024 OVC029 29/24 A2996
>K1F0 091732Z AUTO 11004KT 5SM -RA CLR 23/22 A3009 RMK AO2
>K1H2 091646Z AUTO 00000KT 7SM CLR 32/20 A3014 RMK AO2
>K40B 091724Z AUTO 30006KT 33/13 RMK AO1 PKWND 015/RNO 007V264
>K40J 091653Z AUTO 05008KT 29/23 A3001 RMK AO2 SLP160 T02890228
>K6R6 091653Z AUTO 04008KT 26/18 A3004 RMK AO2 SLP137 T02610183
>K6V3 091740Z AUTO VRB04KT 10SM CLR 29/08 A3017 RMK
>K87Q 091649Z AUTO 33007KT 14/11 A3001 RMK AO2 SLP163 T01390111
>K9V9 091652Z AUTO 12009KT 23/19 A3005 RMK AO2 SLP162 T02280189
>
>These are not strict ICAO codes. If you put the code in to Google you can 
>find out that
>
>K87Q is Cambria, CA
>K6R6 is possibly Dryden, TX
>
>and if I could be bothered I suppose where the others are
>
>But why are they in this odd format? Are they something other than airports?
>
>Ed
>
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