The FAA updated a 38-year-old order—JO7230.8B—that provides guidance to limited aviation weather reporting stations (LAWRS) and outlines the transition from the National Weather Service certification and inspection of LAWRS to the FAA. The agency said that while some LAWRS stations still perform manual weather observation duties, most locations augment or back up an automated weather system, such as automated surface observing system (ASOS), automated weather observing system (AWOS) or automated weather sensor system (AWSS).
This revision permits the development of letters of agreement between airport management and air traffic control towers to assist controllers in detecting certain other weather elements for inclusion into the weather observation.