Remote Automated Weather Station

The Remote Automatic Weather Stations (RAWS) system is a network of automated weather stations run by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and monitored by the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), mainly to observe potential wildfire conditions.

Because of this, they usually are not connected to the electrical grid, but rather have their own solar panels, and a battery to store power for overnight reporting.

In both cases, data important to operating the station itself, such as battery voltage or fuel level, is often included in the hourly reports.

[1] They often lack the consistently high-quality data needed for use in numerical weather prediction and climatology, however.

[2] Road Weather Information System (RWIS) may likewise be self-powered and located in remote areas.

Remote Automatic Weather Station (RAWS) with TriLeg tower at Ruby Lake Ruby Lake National Wildlife Refuge , Elko County , Nevada