Alaska AWOS/ASOS METAR Data Availability: Complete Outages and Parameter-Level Availability for Q4CY25

Abstract

Alaska is an aviation-dependent state with about 23% of the population living off the road system. For so many, aviation infrastructure performance is critical to maintain flows of food, medicine, air ambulance services, patient travel, and basic transportation between communities. One key set of assets from this suite of infrastructure are Automated Weather Observation Stations (AWOS) or Automated Surface Observation Stations (ASOS) that generate real-time aviation weather data that is crucial for operational decision making and the certified weather reports that are functionally essential for landing under instrument flight rules. Given the foundational importance of aviation supply chains for the state economy, aviation stakeholders as well as state and federal leadership have a recognized need for a rapid, top-level monitoring tool of historical aviation weather reporting reliability. This product attempts to fill that gap with routine releases.

The following report provides an integrated view of METAR data availability for 137 NWS and FAA AWOS/ASOS weather observation stations across Alaska for Q4 of calendar year 2025 (Oct 01, 2025 to Dec 31, 2025). Top-line results are presented first at the state level, and then as a regional breakdown of detailed, station-level METAR availability. Additionally, Starlink has been partially deployed to allow satellite telco connectivity, given serious deficits in status quo reliability in many locations. At stakeholders request, a breakout is included for the subset of stations with recent Starlink installations to review the extent to which this solution resolved METAR availability in a sustainable fashion. This report is intended for domain awareness only and is purposefully structured in a very formulaic fashion, permitting easy replicability each quarter and largely allowing the reader to interpret drivers of trends.