Last week, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) announced that a new aviation portal is now available to provide crucial information for pilots, airport operators, first responders and others who need real-time weather conditions throughout California. The Aviation Weather Information (AWI) portal links dozens of commonly used aviation weather websites into one location. Users can quickly and easily find information about current wind speed, temperature, visibility, air pressure and weather conditions at dozens of locations on a single, mapped based website.

Caltrans created the website with the assistance of a team from WTI, through the “Integration of Aviation AWOS and RWIS” project. In the news release about the website launch, Caltrans stated that it recognized the value of the site during the prototype stage, when it was used to gather weather data during an earthquake in 2014, a dam incident in 2017, and mudslides in 2018.  Principal Investigator Doug Galarus, who has led the effort since its inception, added: “I am proud of the great job my team did on this project. Dan Richter, Leann Koon and numerous students worked on the Aviation project through the years to help get it to this point.”