Introduction

Collage of 4 images showing impacts of weather on traffic

The purpose of this module is to help surface transportation decision makers to:

  • Make better use of services and products available from the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) National Weather Service (NWS)
  • Interpret weather data
  • Discuss their concerns with meteorologists, and
  • Ultimately make better weather-related decisions for surface transportation.

We’ll start by talking about some basic meteorological concepts that explain how weather occurs. In Section 3, we’ll discuss how the NWS and other meteorologists produce weather forecasts and what causes uncertainties or errors in those predictions. Section 4 covers NWS forecast products and resources that can help your decision process. Section 5 teaches some basics in interpreting observational data from various sources, such as weather satellites and weather radar. The 6th section describes weather hazards that impact transportation management and the NWS products that specifically address those events. The module ends with a brief summary.