Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T20:27:38.291Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Estimation of road salt use based on winter air temperature

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 September 2001

Ari Venäläinen
Affiliation:
Finnish Meteorological Institute, P.O. Box 503, Fin-00101 Helsinki, Finland
Get access

Abstract

The annual amount of salt used to prevent slippery conditions on roads was estimated with the help of winter monthly mean air temperatures. Air temperature is measured reliably at almost all meteorological stations and the use of air temperature for the estimation of road maintenance conditions is a tempting alternative compared with the use of more complicated indices calculated using meteorological observations available at only a small number of stations. It was found that in Finnish climatological conditions, warmer than normal weather in November and March and colder than normal weather in December, January and February reduces the need for salting. Warm mid-winter months mean slippery conditions and, consequently, an abundant use of salt. The temperature explained about 60% of the annual variation of salt use and thus gave surprisingly good estimates for the salting amounts.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© Royal Meteorological Society

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)