During the winter season, especially in the more mountainous areas, snow can appear at any time. More experienced drivers familiar with the white element are usually better prepared to face winter conditions on mountain roads, but in extreme situations traffic incidents can increase significantly.
It is not necessary for a high-impact storm to arrive as happened with Filomena in January 2021 for the roads to collapse. Even with moderate snowfall, traffic can be affected due to the accumulation of snow and ice on the road. For this reason, the Center for Applied Research in Hydrometeorology (CRAHI) of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya – BarcelonaTech (UPC) has launched ‘Carretera nevada’, an app that allows the user to consult the forecast and the status of Catalan roads for the next 24 hours against snow events.
In this way, drivers can know in advance if the roads they are going to travel on are affected by snow and make informed decisions.
The forecast of the effects and conditions of the roads in Catalonia is presented on a map of the Catalan road network based on a numerical model developed by the CRAHI. This model uses weather forecasts to transform them into quantitative impacts on road conditions and traffic conditions.
Roads are classified into three categories using a color code. They are the following:
The forecast can also be consulted broken down by region in text format, including information such as the name of the affected road, start and end time of the impact, as well as the expected evolution in the next 24 hours. If device location is activated, information is automatically displayed based on the user’s geoposition; Otherwise, you must manually select the region to see the forecast.
‘Carretera nevada’ offers the possibility of collaborating with the CRAHI by sending geolocated photographs of the affected roads through the application in real time. The user can add additional information – road name, kilometer point and location – that they collect in order to continue validating and refining the prediction model.
The UPC reports that the web app will soon increase its functionalities with the development of a map with the images received from users.
The authors of ‘Carretera nevada’ highlight the ease of use of the web application, which is free and compatible for both Android and iOS. To download the application you must access the page https://arquimedes.upc.es/CarreteraNevada. Once installed on a mobile device, it is not necessary to access the browser and type the address to enter again, since the direct link appears in the list of applications as if it were a native application on the device.
