WEATHER OBSERVATION STATION AT AIRPORT PLAYS A VITAL ROLE

As events continually show, weather plays an important role in our daily lives.

We can't stop storms from occurring, but we can prepare for them, thanks to forecasts prepared by the National Weather Service.

The forecasts are based, in part, on weather data collected every hour from a network of weather observation stations, including the weather station at Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport.

In addition, private, corporate and commercial airline pilots, and the air transport industry rely heavily on this network of weather observation stations for up-to-the-minute rapidly-changing conditions that have an impact on flight operations and safety.

Cape Girardeau's weather observation station is nestled in one corner of the airport terminal building, away from the general public. There, around-the-clock weather observers with the Missouri Weather Cooperative record hourly weather observations and transmit the data to the National Weather Service.

The cooperative that operates this and three other weather stations is owned and managed by Darin and Lori Hurst of Russell, Kan. Together with three other partners, Missouri Weather Cooperative operates contract weather observation stations at the airports in Vichy, Joplin, and Spirit of St. Louis at Chesterfield.

The Missouri Weather Cooperative stations and other similar contract stations are under contract to the National Weather Service and the Federal Aviation Administration to provide regular and special weather observations.

Most of the contract stations were opened in the late 1980s after the Federal Aviation Agency closed many of its flight service stations. The Cape Girardeau airport weather station was opened in October 1987.

In addition to providing flight safety services to the air transport industry, the local FAA flight service stations also took the hourly weather observations.

The Cape Girardeau weather observation station has five employees. In addition to the Hursts, others are John Perry, Jerry Kennedy and Steve Wright. All have been trained and certified by the National Weather Service.

Darin Hurst served eight years in the Air Force's Air Weather Service as a weather observer. He met his wife in Russell. She was manager of the contract weather observation station where he was working.

At about 45 minutes after each hour the weather observer on duty at the airport goes outside to the white, wooden, instrument shelter near the control tower. The observer takes the air temperature and the "wet bulb" temperature, which gives the dew point and relative humidity.

If there has been any precipitation, it's measured at the rain gauge near the instrument shelter. At the same time, the observer also looks at the sky for the amount and type of clouds and their height above ground. At night the observer uses a high intensity beam of light called a ceilometer to measure the cloud base above ground level.

In the office the observer checks the weather instrument console for the local barometric pressure -- both sea level and station-location pressure -- wind speed and direction.

At about 50-55 minutes after the hour, the observer types the hourly weather observation data into a computer terminal linked by telephone with the National Weather Service in Minneapolis and Des Moines.

On the hour a command is sent from the main computers for the Cape Girardeau computer to transmit its weather observation data along with similar weather data from other contract weather services, FAA, and Air Force weather observation stations.

The data contained in the hourly weather observations are then retransmitted to all Weather Service, FAA, and Air Force weather stations.

Hurst said the major difference between the Cape Girardeau station and FAA, Weather Service, or Air Force weather station is that the station here does not receive weather observation data from other stations.

He said, "When the FAA flight service station was here, pilots could come in and get aviation forecasts and current conditions in other places. They still come in to our office, but we do not have that data. All we do is observe, record and send the weather information into the weather service."

As a courtesy, Missouri Weather Cooperative also provides the weather data each day to local news media.

In addition to the hourly observations, the observer also takes the 12-hour and 24-hour daily high and low temperature readings at 6 a.m., noon, 6 p.m., and midnight.

Hurst said when the weather turns bad the observer sends in special reports that help the Weather Service and the FAA issue alerts to pilots that warn of deteriorating weather conditions.

"If there is an aircraft emergency or crash somewhere in the area, the on-duty observer at the airport takes a special weather observation for the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board," Hurst said.

Although the Missouri Weather Cooperative may be small when compared to other businesses, its mission and that of the other small, contract weather stations affects countless lives and the air transportation industry.