Developing Quality-Controlled Datasets and Methods to Assess the Impact of Rain on Snow Events on Nevada Highways

Details

• Creators:
  Heggli, Anne ; Bean, Brennan ; Hatchett, Benjamin ; Anderson, Emma ; Maguire, Marc ; Pozo-Lora, Fray F ; Meyer, Jon
• Corporate Creators:
  Desert Research Institute (DRI) ; Utah State University ; University of Nebraska--Lincoln. Charles W. Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction
• Corporate Contributors:
  Nevada. Department of Transportation
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Data Files Decision Support Systems Floods Quality Control Rain Snow Snowpack Snow Rain-on-snow
• Publication/ Report Number:
  296-22-803
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  Nevada;United States
• Edition:
  Final Report 06/27/2022 to 06/30/2024
• Corporate Publisher:
  Nevada Department of Transportation
• Abstract:
  The most damaging effects of rain-on-snow (ROS) events are often the result of excess water flows disrupting downstream infrastructure. While rain on snow events have been well studied in previous literature, there exists little research that quantifies the impact of ROS events on infrastructure. This report outlines efforts to explore the influence of ROS events on roadway infrastructure in the state of Nevada. In so doing, we create a Snowpack Runoff Decision Support System that is supported by rigorously cleaned measurements of hourly snowpack in the state of Nevada, with a focus on the Upper Carson River Watershed. Further, we quantify the excess stream surge associated with ROS events through the development of a new stream surge database that links over 7,000 recorded stream surges to the snow and weather conditions that preceded the surge at upstream SNOTEL stations. This database results in a recommendation to adjust NDOT flow calculations by 10-20% in locations of the state where ROS is expected to be an issue, and sample designs are provided to illustrate the implications for NDOT in implementing such an adjustment. Taken together the deliverables described in this report provide NDOT with a suite of data and tools to help improve infrastructure design to handle future extreme ROS events.
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  P296-22-803
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b9bc8adc29bcce3eddd7134d731f860c9f172261bd9e9c50930602eb50466db26a6f73e105e81d02e2806015520ad8949d77d3d7b064953e17f0fab743bde66d
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/79713/dot_79713_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 10.24 MB ]