An Automatic Wind Warning System for Construction Projects

Environment Canada, the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), and private weather companies provide numerical weather forecast products that cover Canada and the United States. While the spatial and temporal resolution of these numerical weather forecast products are sufficient for public consumption there are limitations to the application of these products for predicting winds at multiple working heights for construction projects. This paper summarizes an advanced wind warning system that was developed for the City of Calgary. This system combines weather forecast technology with wind engineering best practices to predict winds at multiple working heights and provide alerts to reduce incidents of falling debris and the impacts of catastrophic wind related events. Technical, scientific and operational characteristics of the system as well as the results of preliminary model verification studies will be presented.