WX NOT AVAILABLE TO TWR BECAUSE OF LIGHTNING STRIKE. ASOS POLICY BY NATIONAL WX SVC.

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I HAVE FILED ANOTHER UCR CONCERNING THE AUTOMATED SURFACE OBSERVATION SYS; ASOS. CURRENTLY; THE ASOS WX IS XMITTED THROUGH A NON CERTIFIED; NON FAA APPROVED SYS. IT CONSISTS OF AN RS-232 TAP LINE DRIVER TO AN OLD PC WHICH CONVERTS THROUGH A PROGRAM THEN SENDS VIA VHF-FM RADIO TO THE TWR. RECENTLY; A LIGHTNING STRIKE CAUSED THE ATC TWR TO BE WITHOUT ASOS OBSERVATIONS FROM AUG/SAT/94 TO SEP/FRI/94. THE CURRENT NATIONAL WX SVC PLAN TO REMOVE ALL PERSONNEL FROM TWR LOCATIONS WILL CREATE A SAFETY HAZARD. CTLRS ARE NOT WX MEN AND CANNOT SUPPLY THE REQUIRED WX WHENEVER A 'LINE' IS DOWN OR EQUIP IS OTS. CURRENTLY; THERE IS NO PLAN TO HIRE OTHERS TO REPLACE THE NATIONAL WX SVC OR IMPROVE THE ASOS EQUIP. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: RPTR STATED THE PHONE LINE HAS BEEN CHANGED AND THE TWR GETS WX DIRECT FROM NATIONAL WX SVC. ASOS AUGMENTATION TO ERRONEOUS WX RPTS HAS BEEN CHANGED. IF RPT IS NOT CORRECT BY MORE THAN 1 RPTABLE VALUE; THE NATIONAL WX SVC WILL CHANGE THE WX SEQUENCE.