At 1,850-feet long and 50-feet wide, and with the village at one end and a mountain at the other, the Nanwalek Airport can be a challenge for even the most experienced pilots. Strong and gusty winds to the southeast and occasional crosswinds don't make flying any easier.

Thanks to a $3,000 state grant for a Weatherhawk 916 weather station, pilots now have real-time information about wind speed, direction and temperature at the airport. Smokey Bay Air installed the station in late October, and the Web-accessible station has been running smoothly.

"It's going better than expected," said Deb Moseley, director of operations for Smokey Bay Air.

Before putting in the weather station, pilots had to estimate wind speed and direction from a wind sock or from a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration wind meter on Flat Island, about 4 miles southwest from Nanwalek.

"It's night and day sometimes," Moseley said of the difference between wind conditions at Flat Island and in Nanwalek.

Rep. Paul Seaton, R-Homer, got the grant in the 2007 budget. Smokey Bay Air lobbied Seaton for the state grant after he flew to Nanwalek on a Smokey Bay flight.

A laptop computer supplied by Smokey Bay in Nanwalek records information from the Weatherhawk. Smokey Bay staff installed the station with help from Carol Kvasnikoff, Jerry Demas, the Nanwalek Village Council, Nanwalek School, the Nanwalek Post Office and the Nanwalek Store.

Weather information is available through the Nanwalek Weatherhawk link at Smokey Bay's Web site at www.smokeybayair.com.

Michael Armstrong can be reached at michaelarmstrong.@homernews.com.