Up-to-date weather information ensures safe road traffic in all seasons
Picture: Antonin Halas, Studio HalasSeveral weather factors affect road safety. Different seasons bring their own challenges, such as icy roads in the winter, heavy rainfall in the autumn and possible floods in the spring.
The Account Managers of the Finnish Meteorological Institute Jesse Heikkilä and Minna Haikonen, as well as Senior Meteorologist Henri Nyman are aware that weather conditions have a continuous impact on traffic.
"Weather affects traffic 24/7. Different weather phenomena, such as frost, black ice and light snow, have a direct impact on the traffic flow 24 hours a day," explains Account Manager Jesse Heikkilä from the Customer Services unit.
Weather plays an important role in nearly all traffic disruptions. Road weather forecasts provide information on possible congestions and accidents and help drivers plan their routes and avoid hazardous situations.
"Especially in disruption situations, drivers are expected to adapt their traffic behaviour according to the conditions," adds Account Manager Minna Haikonen from the Customer Services unit.
The meteorologists point out that the weather also has financial impacts on traffic. In addition to measures related to road maintenance, costs arise from traffic accidents that are affected by the weather. "A well-predicted and communicated weather also produces savings on a large scale," Jesse Heikkilä sums up.
Warnings prepare drivers for challenging weather conditions
The weather forecast of the Finnish Meteorological Institute is a daily tool that provides information on upcoming weather conditions. Drivers can plan their journeys more safely when they have advance information about snowfall or freezing rain, for example. Particularly important information for road safety are the amount of rain and snow, temperature, wind speed and visibility.
As a security authority, the Finnish Meteorological Institute also issues warnings about potentially hazardous weather phenomena, such as heavy rainfall, blizzards and strong winds. This will help drivers better prepare for difficult conditions. The weather maps and visualisations of the Finnish Meteorological Institute complement this entity, providing drivers with a clear picture of the weather situation and possible hazardous situations.
The information provided by the Finnish Meteorological Institute is used diversely in road maintenance and safety management. Close cooperation is carried out with, for example, the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency, Fintraffic and Destia. Thanks to the long-term cooperation, the weather and road conditions services are developed constantly. This has a direct impact on the timely maintenance of the road network, as well as on traffic control functions, and thus on road safety. Meteorologists’ weather consultation services are now a significant part of the weather services provided to customers and partners.
Situations that, in principle, apply to the whole country, but occur locally, are challenging for the warning services communication. With regard to pedestrian and cycle traffic, the challenge of warnings is that it is difficult to obtain observations of slippery conditions. In winter, it is usually always slippery around Finland. With this in mind, Senior Meteorologist Henri Nyman from the Safety Weather Services group raises the question: When are the roads so slippery that warnings should be given? Forecasting weather conditions and anticipating changes play a key role in this, too.
From the perspective of warning systems, it is challenging to issue warnings without accurate information on how roads are maintained in different parts of Finland. This has a direct impact on the type of maintenance that can be carried out. According to experts, digital variable traffic signs and special interest in holiday seasons, such as Easter and autumn holidays, represent the constant development in traffic warning systems. The systems pay special attention to increased traffic and specific challenges in busy traffic times.
Climate change motivates the development of even better weather services
The Finnish Meteorological Institute provides up-to-date information on how climate change affects traffic conditions. This information is essential for, for example, road maintenance and preparing for extreme weather phenomena. Rising temperatures may increase the risk of heavy rainfall and flooding, which puts added pressure on road maintenance.
Temperature fluctuations affect the need for salting the roads, and it is difficult to predict the weather when the temperature varies between plus and minus degrees. Climate change also affects seasons, such as the extension of the autumn, which makes road traffic more difficult because of longer low pressures. The amount of first winter snow can be substantial and surprising, which has direct impacts on traffic. This was noticed, for example, in the autumn of 2023 in many locations around Finland, when the first snow was particularly abundant.
"As the climate warms up, weather fluctuations can be sudden and substantial, which means that weather conditions may change greatly in a short amount of time. Forecasting weather and road conditions, as well as carrying out maintenance measures at the right time will pose a challenge also in the future," says Minna Haikonen.
Fluctuations in weather conditions can also bring additional costs, as different regions need to adapt to different conditions. Assessing maintenance costs for the future is difficult, but according to some research results, costs may even increase in certain areas.
Technology provides more accurate information on conditions
The Finnish Meteorological Institute uses advanced technology, such as various sensors, satellite data and artificial intelligence, for more accurate and real-time weather information. Traffic safety is improved by providing drivers with more detailed information on weather and road conditions.
"We wish to enhance the temporal and local accuracy of warnings. This would require the production of warning data in grid form, as is currently the case with other weather data. It could be used to localise weather warnings more precisely in specific areas. In concrete terms, this would mean that citizens would see the situation in their own area more precisely, using their mobile phones, for instance," says Henri Nyman.
In addition to traditional weather forecasts, weather phenomena affecting customers' activities, or so-called impact forecasts, will also emerge in the future. For example, an increased risk level of traffic accidents can already be predicted on the basis of the weather forecast for the coming days. Machine learning models can help assess the risk of vehicle accidents and even the likely number of accidents in regions.
Tips for road users: see the warning map and weather report
Adaptation to road conditions is also the responsibility of drivers. The experts give clear recommendations for all road users: follow the five-day warning map and note the weather forecast before you get on the road. Particular attention should be paid to the timely use of winter tyres and to maintaining safety distances in traffic.
“Warning maps and weather reports are available on the Finnish Meteorological Institute’s website or on the free weather application," Henri Nyman points out.
Finnish people can contribute to road safety by observing warnings and being prepared to adapt to varying conditions. Cooperation and information sharing can create safer road traffic in the future, in which weather conditions are no longer just a challenge, but also an opportunity to develop better road safety solutions.
Finnish road traffic is in constant change, and weather data is at the centre of the management of this change. The Finnish Meteorological Institute is committed to providing high-quality and reliable weather information services that support road safety and the smooth running of traffic in all circumstances.
Continuous dialogue between different stakeholders, such as road and transport authorities, ensures that the weather information serves Finnish road traffic in the best possible way.
