Collaborative Aviation Weather Statement (CAWS), Supporting Air Traffic Management (ATM) with Aviation Weather Constraint Forecasts

As a means to support the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Air Traffic Control System Command Center (ATCSCC) and National Airspace System (NAS) stakeholders, the FAA Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) community has developed an event-driven, collaborated text and graphical forecast called the Collaborative Aviation Weather Statement (CAWS). The specific goal of the CAWS is to provide NAS decision makers with timely delivery of high-confidence, high-relevance aviation weather constraint forecasts. The National Weather Service (NWS) Aviation Weather Center (AWC) facilitates both collaboration and production of the CAWS. Furthermore, the Collaborative Convective Forecast Product (CCFP) was required to evolve into an automated forecast having the same look and feel currently used during the ATCSCC strategic planning teleconferences. The collaboration and manual process previously utilized towards CCFP production now shifts to the production of the CAWS. This poster provides an in-depth look into the practical application of CAWS from an operational perspective with a brief description of the development process and components necessary for CAWS to be utilized by operational decision-makers. Developed and utilized in conjunction with the automated CCFP, CAWS is considered a primary source of weather for Traffic Flow Management (TFM) decisions by the FAA.