July 11, 2005

UDOT uses forecast to get a jump on weather

By Natalie Andrews
Deseret Morning News

      They think like a road and forecast the weather, then combine the two.

Glen Merrill, a meteorologist, discusses how he provides up-to-date weather information at UDOT's Traffic Operations Center.

Jason Olson, Deseret Morning News

      Only in Utah can one find meteorologists surrounded by screens and maps that show both cars and clouds. A product of the 2002 Winter Olympics, they toil to save taxpayer dollars and increase safety on the roads.
      "The TV guys can say we have 3 inches of snow coming, but we have to say how it will affect the roads," said Ralph Patterson, a meteorologist at the Utah Department of Transportation who leads a team of three forecasters in the summer and four in the winter.
      The group provides a system that allows traffic employees, from construction managers to snow plow operators, to get up-to-date information on the weather in their area.
      "That's the big thing about this is that we have 24-seven, 365 access," Patterson said.
      The team estimates it receives 3,000 calls a year, and probably 50 during a big storm.
      For example, a bad snowstorm could cause hundreds of accidents. Before they had full-time meteorologists, UDOT might have salted every road or awakened to a storm. Now, the department can predict which roads are going to be a problem before the flakes fall.
      In the summer, the forecasts help improve efficiency. Glen Merrill and Patterson have a role in the current UDOT project of restriping portions of I-15. For the stripe paint to work, the roads must be dry and within a certain temperature range. The meteorologists analyze instruments on the roads to decide if the project will work for that night. Before this was done, a lot of progress was washed away and crews found themselves repeating their work.
      "We're not always right, but our crew does a good job," Patterson said.
      UDOT officials didn't know how beneficial meteorologists would be until the Winter Games gave them a test run. Before 2002, UDOT was like many states that contract with a weather service to provide forecasts.

However, the Games required a lot of coordination and meteorologists were brought in full-time to brief all event personnel on the weather each day — from road maintenance crews to law enforcement agencies.
      When the Games ended, the forecasts kept coming. Full-time meteorologists have been working at UDOT ever since. They are still contracted through Northwest Weathernet, Inc., but work at the UDOT operations center instead of in Seattle.
      Employees have access to the weather center via radio and an 800 number. They also can use an interactive map of Utah — a click of the mouse at any location brings up a detailed forecast for that area. Employees also receive a daily forecast in their e-mail — a service initiated before the Olympics.
      "We're just really responding to what our customers (UDOT employees) want. And the more information we give them, the more they want," Patterson said.
      In writing the forecasts, Merrill tries hard to make them understandable without being too simplistic. He's been known to invent words, using "snain" to mean a mix between snow and rain.
      The meteorologists provide forecasts for UDOT's 88 maintenance sheds throughout Utah, and feel it is important to take time to visit the places they forecast.
      "We've all been to just about every road in the state. It helps to go out and see it," Patterson said.
      Because Utah's topography plays with the weather, seeing the places helps them fill in any holes in their forecasts.
      Because of UDOT's success, other states in the Intermountain West are looking into hiring full-time meteorologists. The group will present their system at a conference in Reno in November and have talked to officials in Montana, Nevada and Wyoming.
      "You have to learn very quickly to think like the road," Merrill said.