Sectional Chart Question.
- Thread starter 5QK
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Ari
On Skyvector that airport is 19MT and the weather station call sign is KMVH
ateamer
Pattern Altitude
Here’s an interesting handbook that details the system for airport, navaid, and weather station codes. The relevant part is pages 2-3 to 2-7.
RussR
En-Route
I believe (no sources, just based on what I've learned over the years, so please somebody correct me if I'm wrong):
- All weather stations must have an identifier. Makes sense, need to know where the weather's coming from.
- The weather station ID, since it's disseminated around the world, needs to have an ICAO-compliant ID.
- 19MT, a private airport, is not an ICAO-compliant ID, so the weather station is given a different one. Not too many private airports have AWOS that is fed to WMSCR (meaning you can get it on the internet).
- You'll note that many mountain passes also have their own weather stations, and NOT co-located with an airport. So they have IDs too.
- All weather stations must have an identifier. Makes sense, need to know where the weather's coming from.
- The weather station ID, since it's disseminated around the world, needs to have an ICAO-compliant ID.
- 19MT, a private airport, is not an ICAO-compliant ID, so the weather station is given a different one. Not too many private airports have AWOS that is fed to WMSCR (meaning you can get it on the internet).
- You'll note that many mountain passes also have their own weather stations, and NOT co-located with an airport. So they have IDs too.
I think basically, it's just an AWOS that is not collocated with an ICAO ID'd airport. I doubt if the fact that 19MT is a private airport or is even there is relevant. Yes, it's similar to the mountain pass AWOS stations. For example, this one is located on Rollins Pass (also know as Corona Pass) and is part of a joint project to place weather stations at or near mountain passes. It's not for that private airport.
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Vintage Snazzy (so my adult children say)
I honestly didn't know there was AWOS or ATTIS that was not located at an airport. Learn something new every day.
Hmmm. It used to be on Rollins pass, but I know that it was repeatedly shut down by the weather up there. Looks like that may have moved it 7 miles away for that reason. @murphey, do you know?
The Colorado ones are part of a state project that started back in 2000 to improve aviation weather reporting at commonly-flown mountain routes. Funds appropriated by the state legislature were combined with funds from the state aviation fund. Taking Dakota Hill as an example, the route - this one near an airway, is standard from metro Denver into to northern Colorado Rockies with access to places like Steamboat and Vail and beyond. How relevant do you think the AWOS at KBJC (elev ~5700) east of the mountains or even KGNB (elev ~8200) sitting in a valley, are to he weather conditions crossing an 11,671' mountain pass? The station at Dakota Hill is at about 11,000'.
Current METAR.
KBJC 011550Z 21004KT 10SM BKN120 07/M11 A2989
KGNB 011615Z AUTO 04005KT 2 1/2SM -SN BKN034 OVC041 M03/M04 A3011
Dakota Hill 011513Z AUTO 29033G48KT 10SM CLR M05/M09 A2992 RMK AO2
There are 12 at this point, most if not all with cameras.
BillTIZ
Final Approach
If you are going to rely on an AWOS report in the mountains, look up the details of the AWOS station and know it's elevation. Any cloud heights reported will be in AGL from the base of the station. In this example it looks like C99 is on a 10,929 ft peak. looking up the NWS details on "KC99", it is at 10938elev, that's pretty close.
Look at La Veta Pass SW of Pueblo CO. KVTP, they have added Web Cams there. https://weathercams.faa.gov/map/-106.4928,36.59344,-101.20562,38.41913/cameraSite/74/details/weather
Point is, La Veta AWOS is at 10,108elev. The railroad through the pass is at about 8500 elev, if KVTP is reporting 2000 OVC, you probably have enough clearance to get through the pass.
I thought 19mt looked pretty big. Looked at it again, it was activated in 2013. Its owned by the Wilks family. So they probably paid to put the awos in when they built the runway just cuz they've got the coin to do so.
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Kind of the whole idea behind putting them there rather than the airports 3000-5000 or so feet below as my other post indicates.
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| Station | Identifier | Elevation | |
| Berthoud Pass | K0CO | 12493 | |
| Copper Mtn | KCCU | 12073 | aka Red Cliff Pass |
| Cotton Wood Pass | K7BM | 9826 | |
| Kremmling | K20V | 7416 | McElroy Field |
| LaVeta Pass | KVTP | 10217 | |
| Saguache Municipal | K04V | 7850 | |
| Sunlight | K5SM | 10435 | |
| Wolf Creek Pass | KCPW | 11759 | |
| Monument Pass | KMHN | 7060 | Elbert Mtn |
| Dakota Hill | KC99 | 10928 | |
| Leadville | KLXV | 9934 | on the airport |
Head over to https://www.codot.gov/programs/aeronautics to download the map with all the AWOS in the state. Plus all the passes with details about cameras, recommendations for flight, etc.
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Don't know nuthing about Rollins/Corona, but LaVeta's always been a problem in the winter. Far too many years, OTS because they couldn't get to it - snow was too deep. I think that one's been located closer to the road over the pass.
