Chair: Nick RUSSELL, member of PIARC TC 3.2, United Kingdom

Most actions in winter maintenance are triggered by weather events. Weather forecasts are a very important source of Information for decision maker in winter service but they are not the only one. Together with information about road weather, road state and traffic winter service operates. New technologies in data collection, transfer and analysis enable new innovative technologies to support decision makers. Regular weather forecasts focus on the air temperature above ground as this is the temperature we can feel. In winter maintenance road surface temperature is also necessary to know. Melting or freezing of snow or ice on the road depend more on surface than on air temperature. Therefore, forecasts for winter service are specialized to that needs.