New Runway Sensors Prove Helpful to Airport Operations in Winter 2019

Starting in the winter of 2018-2019, the Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport installed a weather forecasting and surface temperature observation station. The station consists of five sensors installed in the primary runway. These state of the art sensors can measure multiple variables across the runway such as surface temperature, outside air temperature, whether the runway has been treated with deicing and/or anti-icing additives, the freezing point of any liquid on the runway, and what contaminants may exist on the runway.

Supplementing these sensors, a complex algorithm of historic weather information, from numerous sources, is then used to predict when changes to any of the variables is predicted to occur. The results of the installation of the system have been extremely successful. The system has demonstrated on numerous occasions, the ability to predict within a 10-20 minute accuracy, when the runway or pavement temperature will freeze. This in turn gives airport operations personnel the ability to more accurately plan operations such as snow and ice removal and/or mitigation.