[wxwatcher]

SEAAIRE WINS THE PRIZE!! (Now, if I can only remember where they stashed it.) ;-)

Absolutely correct. The difference I was looking for was the fully automated vs "augmented" automated vs manual (human) observations.

The first was a fully automated observation as indicated by the term AUTO in the body of the observation.

The second was the "augmented" observation where a human monitors the system and can make changes before the observation is sent out. BTW.. If the sky condition is really clear, most augmented stations will not change the coding which actually means "Clear below 12,000" which is the maximum certified cloud hight the system can detect. Now, it there was a higher scattered layer, you may see something like SCT200 as a sky condition.

(A word of caution here.. I have noticed a couple of times where the METAR showed one condition and a SPECI three to four minutes later, usually with a time between H+56 and H+02, showed something drasticly different. On a few of those I checked, I found that the human observer had augmented the observation to show the actual current conditions in the METAR. He/she then turned around to get some cofee or answer a phone or whatever, but missed the automated system doing the SPECI, EVEN THOUGH THE CONDITIONS HAD NOT CHANGED!! Now I routinely check with the location if i can when I see something like that.)

The last was an example of a straight manual or human observation. The observer actually goes outside and looks at the current weather conditions as well as the older equipment used for winds, temps, dew point and altimeter settings. (There are fewer and fewer of these every month.)

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Comments and opinions are my own and do not reflect those of my employer.

[This message has been edited by wxwatcher (edited 11-08-2000).]

[This message has been edited by wxwatcher (edited 11-08-2000).]