Automated Weather Source (AWS) was a partnership and later a corporation founded in 1992 by James Michael "Mike" Bailey and Charles "Topper" Shutt of Montgomery County, Maryland, whose purpose was to create a network of weather stations located at public schools and recreational facilities throughout the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States.
The weather data generated was accessed by dialup modem and included wind speed, wind direction, barometric pressure, temperature, and rainfall totals, along with daily minimum and maximum values of each. The network of primarily school-based weather stations became the first to generate real-time meteorological data for use on broadcast television when the AWS network was first referenced on September 11, 1992, during the nightly newscast of WUSA-TV (Channel 9) in Washington, D.C.
The AWS concept encouraged academic and recreational institutions to increase localized community awareness by soliciting donors to help them join the network. A computer and software interfaced to the weather station, provided access to each site, and enabled the user to download near real-time and archived surface weather observations. The meteorological data were then used in the classroom as part of multiple curricula. The real time data was shared with the general public on broadcast media and provided to the National Weather Service (NWS) for internal use and eventual integration into AFOS (Automation of Field Operations and Services), the computer system in place at the time linking NWS offices for the transmission of weather data now known as AWIPS. Headquartered in Darnestown, Maryland, the Automated Weather Source partnership formed in 1992 was incorporated in January 1994. Implementations of AWS' core concept, often referred to as "SchoolNet" or "WeatherNet," then began to expand into many other major US television markets over the course of the 1990s.
History
Initial AWS methodology
Prior to the formation of the AWS partnership formed in 1992 by founders Bailey and Shutt, Bailey, an amateur weather enthusiast, worked with meteorologist Andrew Stern, then lead forecaster at the Sterling, Virginia National Weather Service forecast office. Stern and Bailey initially compiled code to access and download observations via dialup phone modem from a HeathKit 5001 weather station. In an effort to access the data more efficiently, Bailey acquired a weather station produced by Texas Weather Instruments (TWI) that allowed direct access to the weather data. The TWI instrument, known as a Weather Report, became one of the first sources for local, hourly weather observations by a non-standard weather data platform to be accessed by the National Weather Service (NWS) and ingested into AFOS in the Washington, D.C., area.
Creation of AWS network
As a NWS storm spotter, and having previously worked as an intern and weather watcher for WRC-TV, Bailey recognized the importance of localized weather data for on-air TV use. He provided Shutt with access to the weather data engine and began discussions on how and where other similar weather stations might be deployed and used in nightly local weather broadcasts. Locations considered included ski resorts and parks. Shutt suggested placement at schools, as they were at the time beginning to acquire computers and dedicated phone lines for access to remote data sources. Subsequently, Shutt and Bailey formed the Automated Weather Source Partnership, funding the purchase and donation of three weather stations to Washington-area schools to seed what became the nation's first public school network of weather stations to generate weather data for use on broadcast TV at WUSA-TV. On September 11, 1992, Automated Weather Source Network became an on-air reality and its use quickly grew in the nation's 8th largest TV market DMA.