Applications of Weather Climatology for Decision Support Services at Airports

The National Weather Service (NWS) provides a host of local, regional, and national forecasts and services to support the aviation enterprise. Regular collaboration between the Weather Forecast Offices (WFO) and Center Service Weather Units (CWSU) ensures that local and regional forecasts are on track and assist in the Impact-based Decision Support Services (IDSS) for the billion dollar aviation industry. The Houston WFO and CWSU are infusing climatology into aviation IDSS delivered to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for high impact events at several Houston airports, including George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) and William P. Hobby Airport (HOU). This reliable partnership with the FAA and IAH stakeholders built a relationship which opened doors for further collaboration with Houston area FAA partners.

Recently, the Houston/Galveston WFO and Houston CWSU expanded the operational use of climatological information to aviation partners at IAH and HOU by providing the average monthly and seasonal distributions of cloud ceilings, visibility, wind speed and direction. This presentation will provide examples of partner feedback and also explore their applications of these data. For example, airport officials at IAH used the wind speed and direction climatological data for the summer months to adjust their runway maintenance schedule to minimize its impact on airport operations and capacity. We believe that these data will continue to be used to improve airport operations.