Highways Adverse Weather & Winter Service Plan

Weather Information

Timely and accurate information is a vital component in managing the operational response to unfolding weather events. The weather in the UK is subject to a very complex and dynamic set of variables and forecasts are developed to provide the best possible understanding of likely weather conditions. It is, however, important to acknowledge that these are only forecast and actual weather conditions can differ from those expected.

The County Council’s Highways & Transportation Team work closely with a number of agencies to share information and coordinate responses. The greater the detail of information we can provide for Carmarthenshire enables forecasters to enhance the details of their forecast which helps with our response.

The authority will usually be warned of severe weather impacts in advance by means of the following services:

• National Flood Forecasting Centre.
• Met Office Civil Contingencies Advisor.
• Natural Resources Wales Flood Warnings.
• Met Office weather alerts (Yellow/Amber/Red Warnings).
• Dedicated local road weather forecasts for winter hazards.
• Roadside weather monitoring sites and alert systems within Carmarthenshire and the surrounding area.

Carmarthenshire County Council provides information to our partner agencies and weather forecasters from a series of weather stations strategically placed around the County to provide the best possible representation of local weather conditions. There are currently 13 such dedicated weather stations which provide a wide range of weather data throughout the year including information on road surface temperature, air temperature, humidity, wind and rainfall data plus real-time camera images.

The stations are remotely linked to a weather information system which collates data that is accessed by our partners and is available to staff within the highways division at all times including out of hours. Links with the system are also provided to the weather forecasting organisation enabling a more detailed and tailored local monitoring and forecasting service. The system is monitored 24 hours/day by our weather forecasters and County Council Duty Officers are alerted when critical situations are detected. This is also particularly beneficial when managing extreme adverse weather.

The locations of the current weather stations are:

• Black Mountain
• Bryn Iwan
• Carmel
• Five Roads
• Kidwelly bypass
• Llangadog
• Meidrim
• Pont-Tyweli
• Porthyrhyd
• Pumsaint
• Tafarn Jem
• Tanerdy
• Whitland