Winter Weather Research Product Development Team Update

Airport operations are significantly impacted by winter weather conditions such as snow, snow pellets, freezing rain, freezing drizzle, and low ceiling and visibility. Operational impacts include planning and conduct of runway and airport road clearing, planning and conduct of aircraft deicing, and planning and conduct of aircraft traffic flow on the ground and in the air. In order to increase the safety, efficiency, and capacity of airports during winter operations, a winter weather nowcasting system has been developed by the Winter Weather Research PDT under FAA funding called Weather Support to Decision Making (WSDM). This system provides users with 0-2 hour nowcasts of the above described winter weather conditions. An important component of this system is the use of snowgauges that report in real-time. This paper will describe the current capabilities of the system, and the current research and development being conducted by the Winter Weather PDT to improve and extend nowcasts of precipitation type and rate, and ceiling and visibility.