Overview of the 2018 Aviation Weather Testbed Winter and Summer Experiments

The Aviation Weather Testbed (AWT) at the Aviation Weather Center (AWC) in Kansas City, MO, held its winter experiment in March 2018 and its summer experiment in September 2018. The winter experiment was joint with the Operations Proving Ground (OPG) and focused on enhanced cloud and visibility guidance derived from high-resolution models to support Digital Aviation Services (DAS) in a collaborative forecast environment between Weather Forecast Offices and the Aviation Weather Center. The experiment involved testing blending methodologies for cloud and visibility to produce aviation forecast grids in the Graphical Forecast Editor (GFE) environment in AWIPS from which automated first-guess Terminal Aerodrome Forecasts (TAFs) were derived. The summer experiment had four major thrust areas, including: super high-resolution cloud modeling around the San Francisco International Airport (SFO), evaluation of guidance to support a Day 1 graphic designed to highlight areas of severe turbulence, evaluation of guidance to support longer range (Day 2-4) aviation impacts, and an end-user evaluation of the new features in the experimental Graphical Forecasts for Aviation tool. The FAA’s Aviation Weather Demonstration and Evaluation (AWDE) services group supported both the winter and summer experiment by providing structured evaluations from a human factors standpoint. The summer and winter experiment designs, preliminary results, and potential transitions to operations will be detailed.