City installs five mini weather stations to improve storm response decision-making.

The City of Saint John recently installed four portable wireless, solar powered mini weather stations to help the Public Works team improve our winter storm response. Weather stations have been installed on Foster Thurston Drive, Loch Lomond Road, Westfield Road, and Union Street. A fifth is being installed Uptown to provided information on sidewalk conditions specifically.

Responding to winter storms with the right processes at the right time is critical. Response decisions are made well before the first flake of snow. Over deployment of resources squanders city resources such as road salt, fuel, and labour. Underreacting can result in in dangerous driving and walking conditions.  The new weather stations help us meet our Winter Management Plan standards, reduce costs while doing so, and contributes to the City’s strategic goal of reducing use of highway salt. 

Each station collects and broadcasts key information to our Winter Management team in real time, including air temperature, humidity, road surface temperature, slippery conditions, wind speed, wind direction, and a picture showing road conditions every 20 minutes.  The combination of this location-specific information and more broadly available weather forecasts better predicts when snow will start, snowfall amounts, if any rain may mix in, and when the roads may become slippery. This additional data improves our ability to respond to keep your roads and sidewalks safe.  

The weather stations are leased to limit financial risk while time is provided to assure the chosen product produces the required results.

For more information about the City of Saint John’s Winter Management plan, visit: www.saintjohn.ca/winter.

Here to help – For inquiries related to municipal services, contact the City of Saint John Customer Service Centre at (506) 658-4455, email service@saintjohn.ca or visit us in person on the Ground Floor of City Hall, 15 Market Square, Monday to Thursday (excluding holidays), 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.