Since the last report (AMS, 1997), the objective of the Aviation Weather Center (AWC) has been to become a national resource for operational warnings and forecasts for the aviation industry, and to develop it's international capability as a U.S. component of the World Area Forecast System. Subsequently, a revision of the operating Themes and a statement of strategic imperatives have been developed. Priorities have been set after strategic planning of the Coordination Team and after the site review of the UCAR/NCEP Advisory Panel. The national program has been influenced by improved use of Internet technology, and the development of forecaster tools in the Experimental Forecast Facility under the influence of the Product Development Teams supported by the FAA/AWR. A series of Task Force sorties to industry has been launched for rapid prototyping of experimental products, a concept for a path-to-operations has been initiated, and a workable forum for user interaction has been established by the Friends of Aviation Weather. The international program has been influenced by the merging of strategic flight planning products from the AFWA and the AWC. The future of the AWC within the NWS aviation program depends on an improved interface with the FAA, the community of users of aviation weather products, and research resources in the academic and federal laboratories. The technical developments that are at hand are the systematic improvement of forecast mesoscale model output, increased capacity for digital communications, and rapid display of meteorological fields, including composite data from satellite radiometer channels, the NWS radar network, and a extra-continental lightning network. The prospect of transmitting graphical weather data directly to the cockpit, as well as to the FAA controllers and commercial dispatchers will place additional importance on training for all users of operational aviation weather products
The 8th Conference on Aviation, Range, and Aerospace Meteorology