Winter weather can adversely affect maintenance operations at the Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT). ODOT officials indicated that ice or freezing rain, snow accumulation, and blowing or drifting snow most affect their maintenance operations. Road pavement temperatures and meteorological variables determine the influence of these weather phenomena on the road surface. To meet quickly ODOT maintenance needs, currently available weather information can be used in road pavement temperature forecast models.

The Oklahoma Mesonet, operated by the Oklahoma Climatological Survey (OCS), provides observations of weather variables every five minutes from every county in Oklahoma. The Mesonet is an automated network of 116 stations that measure standard weather variables including air temperature and dewpoint at 1.5 meters, wind speed and direction at 10 meters, accumulated rainfall, and solar radiation. Quality-assured data are available to users within five minutes of observation. Infrared temperature sensors that measure skin temperature and four-component radiometers are installed at 89 of the Oklahoma Mesonet sites.

The presentation describes the relationship between road pavement temperature measurements from Road Weather Information System (RWIS) sites of the City of Oklahoma City Public Works and skin temperature measurements from surrounding Oklahoma Mesonet sites. The results will help determine if skin temperature can be used to model pavement temperature.