The Utah Department of Transportation – Weathernet Partnership and the 2002 Winter Olympic Games

Since 1995, NorthWest Weathernet has maintained a contract meteorological services/RWIS program with the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT). In 1999, in preparation for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, UDOT began the planning for expanded meteorological services coverage. In addition to venue transportation services, UDOT and Weathernet put together a program which included the presence of a Weathernet staff meteorologist into the newly built Transportation Operation Center (TOC) in Salt Lake City. The purpose of this positioning was that all managerial and traffic planning staff would have direct access to a meteorologist having intimate knowledge of the UDOT transportation system, local weather dynamics and the needs of UDOT maintenance as well as the modified transportation program for the period of the Games. Various agencies adjacent to the meteorological staff would also have direct access to information, such as the highway patrol, city and county agencies. Internal systems were configured to network directly into the Weathernet home office in Seattle. When the staff meteorologist at UDOT was not available all operations shifted to the home office in Seattle to assume services. Post Olympics, the program was deemed a major success. The concept of having a meteorologist present from within the TOC was subsequently extended and furthermore the responsibilities were expanded.

In the spring of 2005, a joint program was launched between the Western Transportation Institute and UDOT to study the performance and benefits of the UDOT-Weathernet partnership program at the TOC. This study is being prepared in effort to formally document meteorological service benefits to transportation.