During the COVID pandemic, the FAA Air Traffic Control Tower (ACTC) found itself without sufficient staff to keep the tower open during normal hours. As a result, the tower closed on some days as early as 3 PM. This left any pilots arriving after that time without necessary information about weather conditions and airport operaations. Normally, they would tune their radios to the Automated Terminal Information System (ATIS) frequency to hear a message (recorded by the tower personnel) to obtain that information.
With the tower closed, there was no one to record an ATIS message about altimiter setting, wind speed and direction, runway in use, and visibility-- all necessary for the pilot to make a safe landing. An AWOS, if it had been installed, woulod provide all of that information without the need for someone in the control tower to observe and record it. AWOS are installed at almost every modern airport--but not at Torrance. The Airport customers recommended installation of AWOS instead of the planned East Ts Pilot oounge, which had been funded for $352,000.