Road weather meteorology
A road weather model is a numerical weather model that predicts the current and future state of road surface conditions based on various input parameters such as temperature, humidity, wind speed, precipitation, incoming long-wave radiation, and short-wave radiation. It is essentially a one dimensional version of a standard numerical weather model that focuses on specific points along the roads or on road stretches. How does it work and why is it necessary, you might ask? Glad you asked! There are several reasons, but mainly because of:
Safety: Road weather models help forecasters and transportation authorities anticipate potential hazards like icy roads or heavy rainfall that could lead to accidents or traffic disruptions. This information can be used to implement preventive measures such as gritting the roads (ie, disperse salt on them to melt the snow or frost), adjusting speed limits, or rerouting traffic in advance of adverse conditions.
Maintenance: Road maintenance crews require accurate forecasts to plan their work efficiently. For example, they may need to schedule road repairs during periods when weather is favorable for construction activities. It can cost a lot of money to local municipalities to send the trucks and move the operators in conditions are not good.
The sort of hazards predicted by road weather model are more common during the winter months, especially in northern latitudes, but they are also needed during extremely hot days in more equatorial regions.
You don't really hear a lot on developments on road weather forecasting, but it is an important part of winter planning in most nordic countries. Additionally, road weather models can also be used to predict air quality conditions and pollution.
I will explain the physics behind these models in a future post.