Nationwide FAA weather reporting outage

SENIOR DUTY METEOROLOGIST NWS ADMINISTRATIVE MESSAGE NWS NCEP CENTRAL OPERATIONS COLLEGE PARK MD 1120Z THU JAN 19 2023

...METAR OUTAGE...

AOMC reported that there is a metar outage going on...167 missing sites at last check. The FAA is investigating the issue.

I suspect that's not good enough when planning a flight.

Has anything happened regarding IT staffing at the FAA recently? There was the NOTAM outage last week [1], and now this!

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34337158

Well, it works ("I'm in a cloud!") but isn't sufficiently detailed for the needs of the situation.

Things I use as a pilot of a single engine piston:

- Temp dew point spread - Barometric pressure - TAF / forecast - Wind shear - Freezing level - Cloud tops - Cloud level AGL - visibility measured in actual distance

All of these things can’t be measured easily by a human. Visibility is probably the easiest, but can you tell me what the dew point is easily?

If I use it, imagine the critical importance for airliners.