Commercial Fixed Wing
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 100
Situational Awareness; Workload
ATC Issue All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General None Reported / Taken
Environment - Non Weather Related; Staffing; Procedure; Human Factors
This is a general safety concern. We landed and departed during a time of limited visibility which; for us; was a period of approximately 3 hours. First off; the Tower controllers did an excellent job but it was obvious they were task-saturated. A single Controller was working Tower/Ground/Clearance frequencies with an inability to visually see aircraft on approach and while taxiing. The weather conditions were simply too overwhelming for one Controller to safely keep track of arriving/departing aircraft as well deconflicting taxiing aircraft. Again; phenomenal job by the controllers; however; was the risk necessary to continue the single Controller operation of the airport? In my opinion; no; and it would be unfair to blame the Controller if an incident had occurred.Forecasted poor weather should mean extra manning of ATC facilities. One Controller [was] working Tower/Ground/Clearance during low visibility operations.
Air carrier Captain reported that one Controller was working combined frequencies during low visibility conditions at the airport. Reporter stated safety concerns with the situation.