Road Weather Information System

A Road Weather Information System (RWIS) comprises automatic weather stations (AWS) (often technically referred to as Environmental Sensor Stations (ESS) as they also cover non-meteorological variables) in the field, a communication system for data transfer, and central systems to collect field data from numerous ESS.

Central RWIS hardware and software are used to process observations from ESS to develop nowcasts or forecasts, and to display or disseminate road weather information in a format that can be easily interpreted by a manager.

RWIS data are used by road operators and maintainers to support decision making.

[1] Real-time RWIS data is also used by Automated Warning Systems (AWS).

The data is often considered proprietary although it is typically ingested into the major numerical weather prediction models.