Stic: weather station incorporation

This Project Grant award from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) under the Highway Research and Development Program (CFDA 20.200) provides $125,000 to the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities (DOT&PF) to integrate 8 existing weather stations into regional weather data systems and deploy a new enhanced weather station at a critical location on the Richardson Highway. Key tasks include project management, hardware procurement, weather station installation, integration with the Road Weather Information System (RWIS) and Meteorological Assimilation Data Ingest System (MADIS), and providing final recommendations and reporting. The project aims to improve weather monitoring and data sharing capabilities to support winter maintenance operations and avalanche risk mitigation in this high-elevation, avalanche-prone area of Alaska. The award was made on November 18, 2024.

Project description

Integration of 8 existing weather stations into rwis, madis, and wxde data systems. Development and deployment of a new test station with enhanced robustness on the richardson highway at a high-elevation ridgetop above the critical mile 39 avalanche slide areawith GEO-watershed scientific for partnership with DOT & PF and national weather service NOAA. Tasks include project management; identifying software/programming/ hardware/permit needs to integrate DOT & PF owned avalanche weather station into the rwis and madis networks; ordering hardware for weather station integration and repairs, working with rwis provider to implement weather stations; installation of weather station hardware, implementation and rwis systems integration, final recommendations and reporting.