Remote Automatic Weather Stations (RAWS)
There are nearly 2,200 interagency Remote Automatic Weather Stations (RAWS) strategically located throughout the United States. These stations monitor the weather and provide weather data that assists land management agencies with a variety of projects such as monitoring air quality, rating fire danger, and providing information for research applications.
Most of the stations owned by the wildland fire agencies are placed in locations where they
can monitor fire danger. RAWS units collect, store, and forward data to a
computer system at the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) in Boise, Idaho,
via the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES). The GOES is
operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The data is
automatically forwarded to several other computer systems including the Weather
Information Management System (WIMS) and the Western Regional Climate Center (WRCC) in Reno, Nevada.
Fire managers use this data to predict fire behavior and monitor fuels; resource managers use the data to monitor environmental conditions. Locations of RAWS stations can be searched online courtesy of the Western Regional Climate Center.
NEWS AND INFORMATION
February 25, 2015
G4 FTS Transmitter
Due to a leap year update to the GPS satellite, the FTS G-4 transmitter has the potential to jump time. We have a temporary GOES channel that G-4 owners can use until they replace their G-4 transmitters. The temporary channel is available until October 1, 2015. Any station that is transmitting off time needs to be moved to this channel or turned off per your user agreement with NOAA. Contact the RAWS Help Desk for a temporary assignment and the vendor of your choice for a new transmitter.
FTS Datalogger
RSFWSU (RAWS Depot) will continue to support the FTS FWS-12s, FWS-12 and FWS-11 until December 31, 2017
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
From the RAWS Help Desk:
In the fall of 2014, RAWS owners noticed after swapping out the solar radiation sensor, the range of outputs was lower than in the past. This caused the state of the weather in WIMS to produce a value that was not expected. What caused this discrepancy and how does this affect the automated state of the weather in WIMS or the historic analysis using the solar rad data collected over the years?
Click here to read the paper submitted by the Missoula Fire Lab to address this question.
HAVE A COMMENT OR QUESTION?
We value your feedback about the Remote Sensing / Fire Weather Support Unit programs and our RAWS website. To help us serve you better, please select the link below and email us your comment or question.