Weather Applications

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, about 20% of fatal and injury crashes occur in adverse weather conditions. Decreased visibility, vehicle stability, and surface friction cause a number of problems on the roadway, including delays, incidents, and reduced pavement level of service.

Beyond safety and efficiency of urban and rural travel, harsh weather has significant impacts on a region's economy. Transportation system operators spend millions each year to keep the roads operable and safe. USDOT estimated that $2.0+ billion are spent per year in the U.S. on snow and ice control, and $5.0 billion are spent each year repairing weather-related infrastructure damage.

ITS technologies are applied in many ways to contend with weather conditions that affect surface transportation. Weather Forecasting, Weather Detection, Road Weather Maintenance, Traveler Information Dissemination, and Traffic Control systems each help mitigate adverse weather in different ways. While some weather-related systems have only one function (i.e. weather forecasting), others integrate several functions (i.e. weather forecasting and traveler information dissemination).

The Weather Applications section is organized by system function and provides an extensive discussion of each type of weather system.

Photo of weather detector at left is from the Mount Washington Observatory. www.mountwashington.org