After an Atlas-Centaur rocket was hit by lightning in 1987 and destroyed by range safety, NASA and the Air Force formed an advisory panel with weather experts to develop guidelines for acceptable conditions.

Under either designation, the unit monitored the collection and analysis of all weather data pertinent to Patrick SFB, Cape Canaveral SFS, and Kennedy Space Center operations.

The fleur de les and anemometer cups are a reference to when Air Weather Service was a part of the American Expeditionary Forces in France during World War I.

The 45th’s area of operation encompasses over 15,000,000 square miles (39,000,000 km2) of air, land, and sea that make up NASA's and the USAF's east coast flight range.

The 45 WS provided data and decision criteria when a Shuttle was ferried back to KSC from Edwards Air Force Base, California.

45WS hopes to implement plan with a specific guideline for determining how long a lightning warning should be maintained after a particular discharge is observed prior to any space launches.

The plan will include a joint research project with Florida State University and will be using KSC's Lightning Detection and Ranging (LDAR) network.