|
 Less
than 15 years after the Wright brothers' historic flights of December 1903, NOAA's National
Weather Service, then the U.S. Department of Agriculture's
Weather Bureau, issued the first official aviation forecast --
to help deliver the mail. Now, 80 years later, the agency issues
thousands of aviation forecasts, advisories and warnings to make
flying safe and efficient.
On Dec. 1, 1918, Weather Bureau
forecasters combined ground observations with data collected
by instrumented kites and tethered balloons to provide a forecast
for the "Aerial Mail Service" route from New York to
Chicago. The reporting network for that historic forecast consisted
of 18 kite stations; six were operated by the Weather Bureau
and the rest by the military.
That modest birth 80 years ago
gave rise to a vast array of computer technology, weather satellites
and data collected by en-route airliners to provide forecasts
of developing weather phenomena.
"Since 1918, the NWS has
made quantum leaps in aviation weather forecasting," said
NWS Director John J. Kelly Jr. "Our goal is to continue
that progression into and through the next millennium. Pilots
of that era would be amazed by the complexity of aircraft, and
they'd certainly be overwhelmed by the amount of weather information
we provide every day to the airline industry, private pilots
and aviation in general for safe and economic flights."
"Our geostationary and polar-orbiting
satellites enable us to cover the entire globe, and state-of-the-art
computers digest incredible amounts of weather data to help us
make our forecasts," said David Rodenhuis, director of NWS'
Aviation Weather Center.
"Even with all these electronic advances, a good forecast
of aviation weather hazards depends on our forecasters. Aviation
was in its infancy when that first aviation forecast was issued,
and so was weather forecasting. The people doing the work today
have learned to grow with the technology and the science of meteorology."
Growing from that fledgling,
single forecast for a handful of aircraft in 1918, forecasters
at the Aviation Weather Center, NWS Weather Forecast Offices,
and Center Weather Service Units working in Federal Aviation
Administration Air Route Traffic Control Centers issue thousands
of forecasts every day. With the improved services, the commercial
and general aviation industries are able to save on fuel costs
and select routes that avoid hazardous weather.
The Aviation Weather Center,
one of nine units in the National
Centers for Environmental Prediction, was formed in 1995.
More than 40 meteorologists at the center work closely with aviation
weather research centers, the FAA, and the U.S. Air Force. The
AWC issues en route warnings and forecasts over the continental
United States. At Weather Forecast Offices, terminal and route
forecasts are issued and updated continuously throughout the
day. Aviation meteorologists at the Center Weather Service Units
provide forecasts and consultation to FAA traffic managers at
the FAA Air Route Traffic Control Centers. NWS Offices in Anchorage,
Alaska; Honolulu; and Guam provide special aviation products
for their respective areas.
A map of the daily weather forecasts
for Dec. 1, 1918, is available on the Internet at http://www.outlook.noaa.gov/80thanniversary.
The NWS is part of the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which operates under
the U.S. Department of Commerce. |
