Pilots can now visually observe weather conditions high in the Colorado Rockies from 52 new aviation weather cameras installed on a network of 13 mountain automated weather observing system (AWOS) sites, the Colorado Division of Aeronautics (CDA) and FAA announced late last week. This effort was made possible through a partnership developed between CDA and the FAA’s Alaska weather camera program that currently provided visual weather information to pilots with a network of more than 230 camera sites.
The 13 new camera sites now operational in Colorado are the first in the U.S. outside of Alaska to be incorporated into the FAA weather camera network. Pilots can access current weather camera images and compare them to clear day views, as well as play back a loop of past images to ascertain weather trends.
Additionally, the FAA’s upgraded website also provides one-stop access to a variety of safety of flight information, including Metars, terminal area forecasts, pilot reports, and radar and satellite imagery.
The CDA covered the $226,000 cost to install and configure four weather cameras on each of Colorado’s mountain 13 AWOS units. This project marks the third such collaboration between the CDA and FAA, following Colorado's wide-area multilateration system and ongoing remote tower project at the Northern Colorado Regional Airport (FNL).