Colorado DOT and the National Weather Service – Carving a Path Through the Snow

For the past half decade, the Colorado DOT has been involved in the Pathfinder Project which has been successfully implemented and utilized over the past four winter seasons. The complexity of weather in Colorado necessitated this ramped up approach to communication with the three NWS Offices that cover Colorado. Winter weather is the most impactful, but not the only, weather that can create critically adverse conditions especially on the state’s roadways. CDOT employs two meteorologists to cover the weather specific to the highways, but during the high impact events, communication with the NWS offices is critical in advance of an impending storm. Statewide storm calls are typically required when a particularly severe winter storm is approaching the state. NWS and CDOT team together on these calls, which include close to 1000 stakeholders, to give a brief and concise forecast regarding the statewide impacts as well as the potential impacts to the roads and traveling public. In the background, communication with the NWS offices is much more open and direct not only during impactful weather but also for information sharing during the off-season.

This talk will cover the complex nature of winter weather in Colorado, the weather operations within CDOT with respect to the roads and avalanche paths as well as a description of the relationship between the NWS and CDOT over the years through the Pathfinder Project.