Development of an hourly high resolution forecast index to assess the potential impact of weather conditions on road traffic

As the leading provider of highly localized and personalized weather forecasting, Weather Central, LP is committed to developing products that provide users with the information needed to make life-saving decisions in the event of hazardous weather. One of the most dangerous places to be during inclement weather is on the road. During an average year in the United States, alone, over 1.5 million vehicle crashes are weather-related. This accounts for 24 percent of all crashes on American roadways and over 7,000 fatalities. Knowing these statistics, Weather Central set out to design an hourly high resolution road weather forecast index that could be applied to any roadway in the world.

By applying unique downscaling techniques to the company's proprietary weather model, Super MicroCast™, Weather Central can now provide hourly 1 km road weather forecast data out to 60 hours in several key regions of the world. Outside of these key regions, the hourly road weather forecast data is provided at 12 km resolution by downscaling the GFS model in both time and space. This data can be quickly and easily delivered to users around the world via the DataCloud™, Weather Central's revolutionary global data server and API.

This presentation will feature a detailed discussion of this road weather forecast index, its future enhancements, and how it can be used to mitigate risk during road travel.