Still Tracking Weather Forecasts, Manually?
By Fahad Shuja, P.Eng.

Read Online (with pictures) at: https://docsend.com/view/i4yxrvn

Just as the Minimum Maintenance Standards (MMS) regulates the level of service for municipal winter operations on Ontario’s roadways, it also identifies the need for municipalities to closely monitor weather throughout the year. Here in the “Great White North”, it is second nature to keep a close eye on weather (through websites, apps, TV reports, etc.), so simply monitoring the weather isn’t a great challenge for municipalities. The actual challenge lies in the municipality having to generate sufficient proof that the weather was indeed monitored at the right times (MMS compliant – at least three times a day in winter, and at least once a day in summer) and by the appropriate staff member(s). Failing to have sufficient documentation of weather monitoring can become the weakest link in lawsuits, which can quickly turn a winning case into a lost cause. Many municipalities typically document their weather monitoring in-house, manually. This was certainly the most cost effective method, until April 3^rd, 2017. Because the very next day, on April 4^th, 2017, OGRA unleashed a brand-new service that automates the entire weather forecasting and documentation process – making the subscribing municipalities instantly compliant with the Weather Monitoring section of MMS. In addition to immediate MMS compliance, OGRA’s new service (officially called the “Weather Tracker Add-On”) also helps save over 100 hours of municipal time and resources every year.

THE REGULATION

MMS is very clear in the requirement of municipalities to monitor weather throughout the year (not just winter). In Section 3.1 (Weather Monitoring)[1], MMS stipulates that:

1. During winter (from October 1 to April 30) the “…Minimum standard is to monitor the weather, both current and forecast to occur in the next 24 hours, once every shift or three times per calendar day, whichever is more frequent, at intervals determined by the municipality…”. And,
2. During summer (May 1 to September 30), the “…Minimum standard is to monitor the weather, both current and forecast to occur in the next 24 hours, once per calendar day…”

THE IN-HOUSE EFFORT IS NO LONGER ECONOMICAL

Monitoring the weather is the easy part. Documenting it is where the challenge lies. Typically, during the winter season, municipalities carry out the following in-house activities to ensure that they have sufficient weather documentation records:

1. At a certain time during the shift, a dedicated staff member hops onto a weather website,
2. He/she either does a screen print of the website and/or saves the PDF on a computer,
3. He/she then stores the paper/PDF in a physical file or folder,
4. Dutifully repeats the same tasks at least once per shift or three times a day

Since winter operations is a 24-hour job for at least seven months a year, usually more than one person is responsible for documenting the municipality’s weather. And where more than one person is responsible for the same task, it becomes a mini challenge to make sure that all individuals responsible are synchronized like a well-oiled machine. The Weather Tracker Add-On has been designed from ground up to replace this entire manual effort with consistent, reliable, and automated solutions.

The Weather Tracker Add-On dutifully gets the same, manual job done automatically and accurately. irrespective of whether the documentation is to be done at 12:00pm during the day, or 3:15am at night. Here is how the Weather Tracker accomplishes the task:

1. At the user’s pre-selected times, Weather Tracker sets the internet servers in motion and captures the precise weather forecast from the pre-selected weather station(s),
2. It generates a customized PDF forecast, showing the hour-by-hour weather for the next 48 hours,
3. It emails the PDF to the staff members identified by the municipality,
4. It saves a copy of the PDF, which is accessible in only a couple of clicks,
5. It then repeats the same process at the next timeslot selected by the municipality. It can provide up to four (4) custom weather forecasts every day.

An analysis of municipal hours spent doing the repeated, manual exercises will quickly reveal that by using the Weather Tracker, 100+ municipal staff hours can be saved each year. So while the in-house effort of manually documenting weather forecasts made good economic sense before, it is now far more cost effective to let the Weather Tracker be responsible for this activity.

SIMPLE, ONE-TIME SETUP!

The Weather Tracker Add-On lives and breathes inside OGRA’s Winter Web App[2], and follows the same design philosophy of keeping the user interface very simple. We go out of our way to make sure that not a single dot appears on the screen, unless it is absolutely needed. That same, self-mandated goal can be witnessed throughout the Weather Tracker Add-On, starting with the Setup.

Setting up the Weather Tracker is an easy three-step process:

1. Select the weather station(s),

2. Select the times when you would like the weather forecasts to be emailed,

3. Select the staff to whom the forecasts should be emailed.

And that’s all it takes to set up the system at your end! Once the set up is complete, the Weather Tracker immediately goes to work for you.

ACCURATE WEATHER DATA

Good weather information sits at the very foundation of the Weather Tracker Add-On. After all, what good is the documentation of a weather forecast if it cannot be relied upon? OGRA itself is not in the business of meteorology, so we spent over eight months searching for the right weather provider. After considering more than a dozen different possibilities, we chose one of the best weather data services in the world, Weather Underground (WU). The service is part of the Weather Channel, which was recently acquired by IBM. WU has access to over 470 weather stations within Ontario alone, and over 250,000 (yes, over a quarter-million) stations across the globe. This means a very reliable weather data for subscribing municipalities, and allows OGRA to rely on the expertise at WU so we can focus our attention on making sure that the required municipal documentation of weather is being carried out as per the requirements of MMS.

COME SEE ALL THE STATIONS NEAR YOU

To see the weather stations closest to you, simply login to the Winter Web App (www.OGRAapps.com), click on Weather Tracker Add-On, and use the “View Available Stations” to view an interactive map (for example the screenshot below shows stations in and around Belleville). We are confident you will come across stations you never even knew were there.

BONUS FEATURES, TIMES THREE!

Had the Weather Tracker Add-On concentrated only on making sure that weather forecasts were being created and delivered on time, it would already have been an astounding success story. But at OGRA, we constantly challenge ourselves to go the extra mile. So, in addition to generating timely forecasts, we’ve managed to add three (3) BONUS FEATURES to the Weather Tracker Add-On subscription:

BONUS FEATURE #1
(THE LIVE GRAPH):
Let’s face it, weather does have a mind of its own and can rapidly change hour-by-hour, even by the minute. To make sure that municipalities have access to the best weather data even between their scheduled forecasts, we have built-in an hour-by-hour graph as a BONUS offering, which is accessible with a single click. The graph is interactive and shows the weather forecast for the next 48-hours. This includes air temperature, air pressure, wind speed and direction, and any expected rain or snow accumulation. With Live Graph, the next 48-hour forecast is always just a click away.

BONUS FEATURE #2
(THE SATELLITE IMAGERY):
Although any forecast beyond the 48-hour window is often less reliable, it is still considered good practice to keep an eye on developing storms. To facilitate long-term weather monitoring, we have also built in access to satellite imageries. Through this feature, the municipality gets a bird’s eye view of nearby storms, which can become crucial to planning your operations response. And just like the Live Graph, the satellite imageries are available with just a couple of clicks within Weather Tracker’s online interface.

BONUS FEATURE #3
(THE “SMART” BUTTON):
This final bonus feature is designed to help raise the overall weather-tracking Best Practices like never before! One of the concerns of public works leaders is the uncertainty of whether their staff is reviewing the weather forecasts in a timely fashion. This has been resolved as part of the Weather Tracker Add-On offering, by introducing the “Smart” READ button. This button is embedded in each forecast email that the Weather Tracker Add-On sends out. When the receiver clicks the button, a timestamp (accurate to the minute) is immediately recorded. The public works lead responsible for maintaining the Weather Tracker Add-On can simply go into the online interface and see the READ timestamps for each of the reports (sample shown below), for each staff member. Should the municipality choose to do so, requirement of clicking the READ button upon receiving forecasts could be made a municipal policy in order to enhance weather-tracking Best Practices within the jurisdiction.

APPLES-TO-APPLES

OGRA encourages all Ontario municipalities to record weather forecasts in a timely fashion, and in accordance with the MMS, irrespective of whether they do so manually or through the Weather Tracker Add-On. The following is a quick comparison of how these two documentation methodologies differ in their value offering for typical tasks related to municipal weather interactions:

TRULY DO MORE, WITH LESS

With the never-ending budget cuts and rising public expectations from government entities, municipalities are constantly under pressure to “do more, with less”. Through the Winter Web App, OGRA’s set out to create easy-to-use online solutions in the form of “Add-Ons” that offload some of the repeated (yet critical and time-sensitive) tasks off the shoulders of our member municipalities.

In 2013, we began the Winter Web App by giving municipalities the ability to easily generate their annual winter maintenance plans in less than a week (task that typically takes months, if done manually). Then in 2016, we not only enhanced the content of winter maintenance plan, but we also released the Events Tracking Add-On. Through the Events Tracking Add-On, municipalities can easily document each of the storms and keep close track of what resources went into responding to all storms. And now, in 2017, we have successfully launched the Weather Tracker Add-On, with the intention to help municipalities consistently document weather as per MMS requirements.

“OGRA staff spent two years designing and testing our new Weather Add-On and I could not be more pleased that this innovative and cost effective solution is now available to Winter Web App users…”, said Joe Tiernay (Executive Director, OGRA). “…Not only does the Weather Add-on automatically sends weather reports and forecasts to municipal staff, but it [also] keeps a log and verifies that the weather report was actually read.  Imagine how useful this would be if you are to stand in front of a judge and are asked to prove that you were in compliance with MMS”.

At OGRA, we aim to consistently make sure that we are doing all that we can support our member municipalities. And it is immensely heart-warming when our members support our services. According to Joe Reid (Supervisor Road Services, City of Belleville), “The steps to sign staff up to receive the reports was really easy to follow.  I think it is great OGRA is looking after its members in this way – providing economical services to ensure we are meeting our obligations to the public, while meeting compliance of MMS Legislation. Also, the cost is about half the price of our current weather provider so we have made the switch [to OGRA’s Weather Tracker Add-On]”.

While recognizing that the notion of “do more, with less” will not likely go away any time soon, we are lucky to be living in times when the power of computers and internet can achieve tasks that were simply impossible to do even six to seven years ago. OGRA fully recognizes the potentials of using innovation and technology to solve day-to-day problems of our member municipalities, which is why we have developed the Winter Web App as an expanding ecosystem with endless possibilities.

The Weather Tracker Add-On has been built from ground up to give member municipalities the opportunity to replace the manual activities associated with daily compliance with MMS’s Weather Monitoring clause. This new OGRA service not only has a great potential of increasing efficiencies in documentation, it also doubles as a tool that encourages Best Practices within the jurisdiction.

[1] Minimum Maintenance Standards (O. Reg 239/02), https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/020239

[2] Winter Web App (WWA) was developed by OGRA to help municipalities easily generate annual winter maintenance plans by simply answering questions related to their municipal winter operations. The WWA has grown to be an ecosystem, offering even more functionality – like tracking storm events and now with the added opportunity for municipalities to subscribe to the Weather Tracker Add-On.