Dispatcher reported noticing that the pgv airport AWOS was transmitting incorrect information. Dispa...

Narrative:

Pgv weather had low ceilings and some fog. I was watching the field's metars to make sure the flight would be able to take off. However; I noticed that the metar contained a precipitation entry for heavy rain (+RA); yet there was no precipitation showing at or anywhere near pgv on my weather map. I then called the station to ask them if they were getting heavy rain and they said; 'no.' they just had some fog and low clouds and that it had not rained there recently. Right after that the flight had taken off safely. Verified with ops at pgv that there was indeed no recent or current precipitation at the airport. Automated weather observation system was reporting precipitation at the field when there was none. At that point the flight had safely taken off. My response is to file this report regarding the problems with the pgv automated weather equipment and its reporting inaccurate information. We have often had problems with the automated weather in pgv; which has usually been the weather not being reported at all. This situation concerned me because it was reporting; but was showing incorrect meteorological conditions. And with this airport being unmanned at times; this is a serious safety issue if the automated weather system there is either not reporting at all; or even worse; reporting incorrect weather information which could put a flight in an unsafe or even dangerous situation if the weather information being generated is not accurate.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Dispatcher reported noticing that the PGV airport AWOS was transmitting incorrect information. Dispatcher stated the PGV AWOS is frequently unreliable.

Narrative: PGV weather had low ceilings and some fog. I was watching the field's METARs to make sure the flight would be able to take off. However; I noticed that the METAR contained a precipitation entry for heavy rain (+RA); yet there was no precipitation showing at or anywhere near PGV on my weather map. I then called the station to ask them if they were getting heavy rain and they said; 'no.' They just had some fog and low clouds and that it had not rained there recently. Right after that the flight had taken off safely. Verified with Ops at PGV that there was indeed no recent or current precipitation at the airport. Automated weather observation system was reporting precipitation at the field when there was none. At that point the flight had safely taken off. My response is to file this report regarding the problems with the PGV automated weather equipment and its reporting inaccurate information. We have often had problems with the automated weather in PGV; which has usually been the weather not being reported at all. This situation concerned me because it was reporting; but was showing incorrect meteorological conditions. And with this airport being unmanned at times; this is a serious safety issue if the automated weather system there is either not reporting at all; or even worse; reporting incorrect weather information which could put a flight in an unsafe or even dangerous situation if the weather information being generated is not accurate.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.

Attributes
ACN	1757442
Time
Date	202008
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	PGV.Airport
State Reference	NC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Any Unknown or Unlisted Aircraft Manufacturer
Flight Phase	Taxi
Person 1
Function	Dispatcher
Qualification	Dispatch Dispatcher
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types

Dispatcher reported noticing that the pgv airport AWOS was transmitting incorrect information. Dispatcher stated the pgv AWOS is frequently unreliable.