Jul 15, 2015 2 min read

Lightning strikes in mid-June have kept the Washington County Airport weather data as scarce as the sun, but airport officials hope that the Federal Aviation Administration has its equipment up and running soon.

“The most recent entry is the 14th day of June when there was a thunderstorm in the vicinity and the air temperature was 73 degrees at the hour 21:55,” wrote John Manning of Canonsburg in an email message to the Observer-Reporter.

Scott Gray, executive director of the airport, said lightning hit both the antennae of the outdoor weather station that gathers data and the terminal, which houses computer equipment that transmits the weather data to the National Weather Service.

“It took out a whole bunch of equipment, including weather reporting, communication equipment and landing navigation aids,” Gray said. “Most of those were repaired the next day.”

The components out of commission are FAA equipment. “They’ll come out and they’ll install it,” Gray said. “We’re hoping this week it willl be resolved. The parts have been ordered but they just haven’t arrived yet. They work on equipment in Western Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia.”

Both Manning and William McGowen, executive director of the Washington County Redevelopment Authority, which oversees the operation of the airport, noted that Washington weather information has been missing from televised weather reports.

“The FAA has been out there two or three times,” McGowen said.

“This happened last winter also. I can’t recall how long the station was down, but it was more than a week,” Manning commented.