Narrative:

Aircraft was issued departure clearance runway 34L. Weather was IFR; and I was unable to visually see air carrier X or the runway out the window. When air carrier X was approximately halfway down the runway; I noticed a primary target on the runway at the very end. Amass did not alarm even though the 'bars' were up and there was very clearly a primary target on the runway. I issued an advisory to air carrier X; but did not cancel his take off clearance. Air carrier X appeared to climb out normally and reported he hadn't seen anything on the runway when queried. An operations vehicle was dispatched and reported a snow berm or bank. Operations reported they took action and the primary target disappeared; and did not return. Last night was one of the most complex sessions I've had in the tower. I feel I was working traffic at 100% of my capabilities and felt very near to my limit; even at the slowed pace I chose to work at due to the many external factors (working multiple positions combined; volume; complexity; and most of all; weather.) with uncertainty that overtime would be approved; we were expecting a reduction in the arrival rate. That did not appear to happen and; in my opinion; safety was compromised for volume. The three cpcs in the tower were already fully saturated with the amount of traffic they were running. If overtime wouldn't have been approved; there would have been no way that the cpcs left would have been able to handle that volume. I was unable to provide air carrier X with my best service. Safety was compromised when we were assured that safety would have priority over volume without question.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: DEN Controller described an AMASS alert on the departure runway as an Air Carrier was taking off; elected to issue only an advisory; the anomaly was later determined to most likely have been a snow bank.

Narrative: Aircraft was issued departure clearance Runway 34L. Weather was IFR; and I was unable to visually see Air Carrier X or the runway out the window. When Air Carrier X was approximately halfway down the runway; I noticed a primary target on the runway at the very end. AMASS did not alarm even though the 'bars' were up and there was very clearly a primary target on the runway. I issued an advisory to Air Carrier X; but did not cancel his take off clearance. Air Carrier X appeared to climb out normally and reported he hadn't seen anything on the runway when queried. An OPS vehicle was dispatched and reported a snow berm or bank. OPS reported they took action and the primary target disappeared; and did not return. Last night was one of the most complex sessions I've had in the Tower. I feel I was working traffic at 100% of my capabilities and felt very near to my limit; even at the slowed pace I chose to work at due to the many external factors (working multiple positions combined; volume; complexity; and most of all; weather.) With uncertainty that overtime would be approved; we were expecting a reduction in the arrival rate. That did not appear to happen and; in my opinion; safety was compromised for volume. The three CPCs in the Tower were already fully saturated with the amount of traffic they were running. If overtime wouldn't have been approved; there would have been no way that the CPCs left would have been able to handle that volume. I was unable to provide Air Carrier X with my best service. Safety was compromised when we were assured that safety would have priority over volume without question.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.