Federal Aviation Administration - Aviation Weather Services Handbook

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

ISBN: 978-1-60239-944-0

Printed in China

SUMMARY OF CHANGES

Aviation Weather Services, Advisory Circular 00-45F, is published jointly by the National Weather Service (NWS) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). This publication supplements its companion manual Aviation Weather, Advisory Circular 00-6A, which documents weather theory and its application to the aviation community.

This advisory circular, AC 00-45F, explains U.S. aviation weather products and services. It details the interpretation and application of advisories, coded weather reports, forecasts, observed and prognostic weather charts, and radar and satellite imagery. Product examples and explanations are taken primarily from the Aviation Weather Center's Aviation Digital Data Service website (http://adds.aviationweather.noaa.gov/).

The AC 00-45F was written by Robert A. Prentice with assistance from Douglas D. Streu, and edited by Cynthia Abelman and Tom Dulong. Stan Roberts (AFS-600) was the reviewer for the FAA. Additional contributors include Raymond Tanabe, Larry Burch, Duane Carpenter, Lisa Glikbarg, Celia Miner, Ronald Olson, Richard Akers, Bill Carle, and Christa Jacobs.

An online version of this document can be found at:

http://www.airweb.faa.gov/Regulatory_and_Guidance_Library/rgAdvisoryCircular.nsf/MainFram e?OpenFrameSet

or

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/faa/pubs.html

Comments and suggestions for improving this publication are encouraged and should be directed to:

E-mail

nws-faa.academy@noaa.gov

US Postal Mail

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE, W/SR64

BLDG 30, RM 107

6500 S MACARTHUR BLVD

OKLAHOMA CITY OK 73169-6901

Aviation Weather Services, Advisory Circular, AC 00-45F, Change 2, supersedes AC 00-45F, revision 1, published July 31, 2008. This AC document will be cancelled when the AC 00-45G is published on February 11, 2010.

The aviation weather service program is a joint effort of the National Weather Service (NWS), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Department of Defense (DOD), and other aviation-oriented groups and individuals. This section discusses the civilian agencies of the U.S. Government and their observation, communication and forecast services to the aviation community.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is an agency of the Department of Commerce (DOC). NOAA conducts research and gathers data about the global oceans, atmosphere, space, and sun, and applies this knowledge to science and service which touches the lives of all Americans. Among its six major divisions are the National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service (NESDIS) and the NWS.

The National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service (NESDIS) manages the U.S. civil operational remote-sensing satellite systems, as well as other global information for meteorology, oceanography, solid-earth geophysics, and solar-terrestrial sciences. NESDIS provides this data to NWS meteorologists and a wide range of other users for operational weather forecasting.

NESDIS' Satellite Analysis Branch (SAB) serves as the operational focal point for real-time imagery products and multi-disciplinary environmental analyses. The SAB's primary mission is to support disaster mitigation and warning services for U.S. Federal agencies and the international community. Routine environmental analyses are provided to forecasters and other environmental users and used in the numerical models of the NWS. The SAB schedules and distributes real-time satellite imagery products from global geostationary and polar-orbiting satellites to environmental users. The SAB coordinates the satellite and other information for the NOAA Volcanic Hazards Alert program under an agreement with the FAA and works with the NWS as part of the Washington, D.C. Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC).

The National Weather Service (NWS) provides weather data, forecasts and warnings for the United States, its territories, adjacent waters and ocean areas for the protection of life and property and the enhancement of the national economy. NWS data and products form a national information database and infrastructure that can be used by other government agencies, the private sector, the public and the global community. The following is a description of NWS offices associated with aviation weather.

The National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) is where virtually all global meteorological data is collected and analyzed. NCEP then provides a wide variety of national and international weather guidance products to NWS field offices, government agencies, emergency managers, private sector meteorologists, and meteorological organizations and societies throughout the world. NCEP is a critical resource in national and global weather prediction and is the starting point for nearly all weather forecasts in the U. S.