Automated Weather Source
Automated Weather Source (AWS) was a partnership and later a corporation founded in 1992 by James Michael "Mike" Bailey and Charles "Topper" Shutt of Montgomery County, Maryland, whose purpose was to create a network of weather stations located at public schools and recreational facilities throughout the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The weather data generated was accessed by dialup modem and included wind speed, wind direction, barometric pressure, temperature, and rainfall totals, along with daily minimum and maximum values of each. The network of primarily school-based weather stations became the first to generate real-time meteorological data for use on broadcast television when the AWS network was first referenced on September 11, 1992, during the nightly newscast of WUSA-TV (Channel 9) in Washington, D.C. The AWS concept encouraged academic and recreational institutions to increase localized community awareness by soliciting donors to help them join the network. A computer and software interfaced to the weather station, provided access to each site, and enabled the user to download near real-time and archived surface weather observations. The meteorological data were then used in the classroom as part of multiple curricula. The real time data was shared with the general public on broadcast media