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.

!!! THE CLOCK IS TICKING !!!

ALL RAWS STATIONS ON THE NETWORK MUST BE HDR COMPLIANT BY:

MAY 31, 2013

IF YOUR STATION IS NOT HDR COMPLIANT THE TIME LEFT TO UPGRADE YOUR STATION IS:

For more information on the HDR transition CLICK HERE.

4/20/2012

F6 DATALOGGER APPLICATION SYSTEM (AS) and OPERATING SYSTEM (OS) UPDATES

F6 dataloggers occasionally need AS and OS updates in order to fix issues with the datalogger. To determine what AS and OS your F6 currently has, from your F6 touchscreen, select “Station Set-up”, then select the “Version” tab. This page will display your Application Version and your Operating System Version. If you determine that your AS or OS version is out of date, contact the RAWS Help Desk to determine how to proceed.

Current AS version is 2.55.8.805/15

Current OS version is 3.09

NOTE: Visit the Station Assets page to find out the current firmware available for your logger or DCP

 


3/26/2012

RETRIEVING STATION ARCHIVED DATA

There are times because of satellite issues, transmitter problems, or glitches with associated equipment, when a RAWS station reports “missing data” or “offline” on WFMI. It may still have the ability to collect and archive data; it just does not have the means to transmit the data via GOES to WFMI. When this happens, clients downstream from WFMI that use the data such as WIMS or WRCC have no way of filling in these missing "gaps" unless the user in the field manually retrieves the data from the station and sends it to those clients.

Under the “Resources” page there is now a link called “Retrieving Archived Data From Your Station”. This link opens an instruction guide for retrieving data from a Vaisala 555, FTS F6, and FTS FWS-12S datalogger. To determine the best format and method to send your archived data please contact:
  • Weather Information Management System (WIMS)
  • Interagency Incident Applications Help Desk
  • helpdesk@dms.nwcg.gov
  • (866) 224-7677
  • Western Regional Climate Center (WRCC)
  • wrcc@dri.edu
  • (775) 674-7010

 

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MAINTENANCE USER ACCESS REQUEST FORM
First step in getting access to WFMI.

 

TRAINING
From requesting access to documenting your annual maintenance and repair. Everything you need to become a WFMI wizard!

 

WFMI WEATHER REFERENCE GUIDE AND DEFINITIONS
This reference guide takes you through the metadata shown on the Station page in the WFMI Weather module. It provides a description of each section and how the metadata is used and updated.

 

WFMI USER ROLES AND TASKS
Roles control what a user is allowed to do within the WFMI Weather module. Each role consists of a set of tasks. Each user is assigned role(s), which allow the user to perform the tasks that belong to that role. Note that all users, by default, have the UserView role; this was automatically assigned when the user account was created. The table below lists the roles and the tasks available to that role.

 

WFMI STATION EVENT REPORT GUIDE
The WFMI Station Event Report is automatically generated every Monday and is emailed by WFMI Weather to the address listed in the RAWS station record "Event Email Address" field. This report is distributed weekly for each station defined in WFMI that logs at least one event in the past week. While some events may be informational such as a change to the station metadata, there are other events that flag errors or problems with a station and may require some type of response from the technician in the field. This handy guide will help decipher the events commonly listed in the report.
Is there a guide available to help me decipher the WFMI Station Event Report?

 

What type of access do I need in WFMI to maintain my RAWS station?

 

What am I responsible for if my station is vandalized?

 

How long will the Vaisala 555 DCP be supported by the RSFWSU?

 

My office is purchasing a new weather station. How do I get started so I can get the data off the internet?

 

What is involved with loading Vaisala software so I can interface my laptop with my DCP?

 

Do you anticipate any problems using Online 2000 with computers running Windows 7?

 

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