Problem
In 2012, Clear Roads completed a project to develop weather severity maps of the U.S. The project responded to state DOT needs for comparing their operations with other states with similar weather severity. These comparisons allow states to identify opportunities for reducing spending or improving levels of service. By analyzing the weather severity in snow and ice states, the researchers developed a methodology to map weather severity across the regions and states. The resulting maps depict winter weather severity across the U.S. in a manner similar to the plant hardiness zone maps used for agriculture.
As individual Clear Roads states have been using these maps in presentations within their agencies, they found that state-specific maps would better allow them to focus on their own weather patterns or patterns within their region. High quality versions of the maps were needed that would include scale, title, credits, etc.
Objective
The goal of this project was to develop a state-focused version of each of the five weather severity maps (hours of blowing snow; hours of freezing rain; hours of snowfall; inches of snow and overall severity) for each of the 29 member states, based on the maps developed in the original project. That project compiled data from the National Weather Service and Federal Aviation Administration from 2000 to 2010.
Results
A set of state-specific maps tailored to each member state’s interest.