CDOT and CSU Launch Weather Balloon to Improve Colorado Road Safety and Storm Response

Description: CDOT and Colorado State University launched a weather balloon near Horsetooth Reservoir to improve storm forecasting, road maintenance planning, flood response and traveler safety statewide...

CDOT and CSU launch weather balloon to strengthen year-round road operations

Partnership benefits both the traveling public and students

Statewide - The Colorado Department of Transportation and the Colorado State University’s Department of Atmospheric Science joined forces today, July 23, to launch a weather balloon near Horsetooth Reservoir, filling a data gap for CDOT meteorologists and other weather entities across the state. The effort will generate atmospheric data that directly supports CDOT’s maintenance and operations planning across all seasons – from winter storm response to summer weather events that affect travel on the state’s mountain corridors. 

The balloon, launched by CSU graduate students, collects readings from the surface to the upper atmosphere around jet-stream levels which includes temperature, dewpoint/humidity, wind speed and pressure at varying altitudes. That data provides critical tactical information that feeds into the CDOT forecasts that are used by CDOT maintenance crews to make decisions about road treatment, equipment deployment and traveler alerts. It also contributes to research conducted by CSU and will be shared with partner agencies including the National Weather Service. 

“Understanding what is happening in the atmosphere above Colorado’s roads gives our crews a critical edge,” said Michael Chapman, CDOT’s winter operations program manager and chief meteorologist. “This data helps us get ahead of storms in winter and anticipate severe weather in the summer, so we can make smarter decisions about when and where to deploy resources and give travelers better information before conditions change.”

"We are excited for this partnership that both benefits CDOT operations and also provides us with useful observations for research and forecasting. The spatial and temporal coverage of upper-air soundings east of the Rockies is coarse, so any observations such as these special soundings can improve short-term forecasting,” said Research Scientist Brenda Dolan, who is part of the CSU team involved with the project.

For CDOT, better atmospheric data means more precise, earlier action. Launching the balloon in conjunction with the monsoon system moving into Colorado this week allows CDOT to better predict potential flooding along vulnerable corridors, such as those surrounded by recent burn scars, which will then allow the agency to surge resources to potentially impacted roadways ahead of impacts. 

The partnership with CSU reflects CDOT’s broader commitment to using data and emerging tools to keep Colorado’s transportation network safe and reliable regardless of season.

Colorado State University Research Scientist Brenda Dolan and CSU PhD student hold weather balloon and sensor prior to its launch.

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