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

Oct 19, 2012

We now support the Campbell Scientific CR1000 Datalogger and TX320 GOES transmitter. If your station is configured with sensors listed on the "Station Assets" page of this website, we can provide full support for your station. Direct any questions to the RAWS Help Desk.

Oct 1, 2012

The Interagency RAWS partners have decided that Vaisala sensors currently in the RSFWSU inventory will no longer be supported after Dec 31,2017. Refer to the Station Assets page on this website to determine which sensors are affected.

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!!! 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

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

From the RAWS Help Desk

“I recently upgraded my FTS station to the RM Young WS/WD sensor. Since then I have noticed my wind speed readings appear to be much slower that I expect them to be. Is there a problem with my sensor?”

Some customers after installing the RM Young ws/wd sensor (p/n: SDI-WS-RMY-2) are reporting lower than expected wind speeds on their stations. Possible cause of this may be the sensor SDI card programmed for wind speed readings in meters per second instead of miles per hour. Go to the RESOURCES page and select TECH RESOURCES to find the procedure for “Resetting the RM Young to MPH”.

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