Eight years after Kitty Hawk, the U.S. Weather Bureau began tailoring forecasts for the mail pilots dodging thunderstorms in open cockpits. On December 1, 1918, the Bureau issued its first aviation forecast for the New York–Chicago mail route. Congress formalized the duty in the Air Commerce Act of 1926, and by World War II, dedicated Flight Advisory Weather Service Centers were backing controllers. Today, NOAA's Aviation Weather Center in Kansas City issues over 8,000 graphic products daily—icing, turbulence, thunderstorm forecasts—while 21 Center Weather Service Units embed meteorologists inside FAA en route facilities. From telegraphed bulletins to 4-D weather cubes, the mission never changed: keep the skies safe.