Introduction to Winter Weather Operations

ArcGIS Online    |    |  

Winter Weather Operations can be used to monitor winter weather operations in real-time, measure key performance indicators, and share road status updates with the public.

Adverse weather conditions have a major impact on the safety of roadways and communities depend on efficient winter weather operations to keep roads safe and traffic flowing. As a result, state and local agencies spend more than 2.3 billion dollars on snow and ice control operations annually. Unfortunately, the increasing frequency and severity of winter storms consumes a larger percentage of operations and maintenance budgets each year.

While some organizations track snowplow locations, monitoring service status and understanding performance over time eludes them. Assessing storm responses and continuously improving operations requires information not easily attainable. Understanding where roads have been serviced and snowplows are currently located during a winter storm optimizes response activities and helps clearly communicate road status.

Deploy the solution

This solution can be deployed in your ArcGIS organization.

Deploy the solution

See Deploying a solution for more information.

Requirements

Winter Weather Operations requires the following:

  • ArcGIS Online
  • ArcGIS Velocity (Standard)
  • ArcGIS Pro 3.5 or later
  • ArcGIS Survey123 Connect
  • ArcGIS QuickCapture (optional)

Information products

Winter Weather Operations includes the following information products:

ItemDescriptionMinimum user type

Winter Operations Center

An ArcGIS Experience Builder app used by operations managers to manage authoritative content, triage service requests, monitor winter operations, and track key operational metrics throughout the winter season.

Contributor

Winter Operations Dashboard

An ArcGIS Dashboards app used by operations managers and directors to monitor snow response activities during operational periods.

Viewer

Winter Season Dashboard

An ArcGIS Dashboards app used by operations managers and directors to review response activities for any event throughout the winter season.

Viewer

Winter Material Reporting

An ArcGIS Survey123 form used by operations managers and yard supervisors to report materials used by each vehicle during winter weather operations.

Contributor

Winter Operations Reporter

An ArcGIS QuickCapture project used by drivers to share vehicle location, service status, material usage and issues during winter weather operations.

Mobile Worker

Winter Request Manager

An ArcGIS Instant Apps used by operations managers to triage service requests.

Contributor

Winter Weather Data Management

An ArcGIS Pro project used by mapping technicians to manage an authoritative inventory of snow routes and service areas.

Professional

Winter Weather Operations Data Migration

An ArcGIS Data Pipelines pipeline used to load snow route, service district, event and vehicle information from the 1.1 schema into the 2.0 schema.

Creator

Safe Winter Roads

An ArcGIS Hub site used by the general public to learn about winter weather operations in their community.

Not required

Winter Request

An ArcGIS Survey123 form used by transportation and public works organizations to solicit winter weather service requests from the public.

Not required

Snow Route Status Dashboard

An ArcGIS Dashboards app used by the general public to view near real-time route status.

Not required

Snow Route Status Lookup

An ArcGIS Instant Apps app used by the general public to view route status by searching for an address.

Not required

Snow Routes and Restrictions

An ArcGIS Instant Apps app used by the general public to view snow routes, route priorities, and parking restrictions.

Not required

When you deploy this solution in your ArcGIS organization, you also get a solution item that organizes the key information products and summarizes all the ArcGIS items (applications, forms, projects, maps, feature layers, feature layer views, and so on) included with the solution. The solution item also illustrates any dependencies items have on each other.

Release notes

The following are the release notes:

VersionDescription
2.0 (Jul 2025)
  • The Winter Weather Operations solution includes the following notable changes from version 1.1 to version 2.0:
    • The Winter Weather Outreach solution has been retired and replaced with several new apps delivered in the Winter Weather Operations solution.
    • The Winter Operations Notebook has been removed and replaced with new functionality in the Winter Operations Center app and the Winter Operations Analytics scheduled big data analytic.
    • A new Winter Operations feature service replaces SnowRoutes, ServiceAreas, OperationsManagement, and FieldOperations feature services from version 1.1, and a new data pipeline helps users migrate data from v1.1 to v2.0.
  • New and updated apps supporting winter operations include: Winter Operations Center Web Experience, Winter Operations ArcGIS Dashboard, Winter Season ArcGIS Dashboard, Winter Material Reporting Survey123 form, Winter Status Reporter ArcGIS QuickCapture project, Winter Weather Data Management, and Winter Request Manager Instant app.
  • New and updated apps for sharing winter response information with the public include: Safe Winter Roads ArcGIS Hub site, Snow Route Status ArcGIS Dashboard, Snow Route Status Lookup Instant App, Snow Routes and Restrictions Instant App, and the Winter Request Survey123 form.
  • An update to the Winter Operations Center app now includes the following enhancements:
    • An update to vehicle management workflows and the Snowplows page aligns with the Street Sweeping Operations and Mowing Operations solutions to help users manage a single inventory of vehicle assets that support different operations throughout the year.
    • An update to the Events page helps users define separate phases within an active event, so changes in shift, service level, type of operation or weather observed can be tracked and compared alongside key performance metrics such as roads serviced, number of passes, distance traveled and materials used.
    • An update to the Events page helps users schedule events and phases to start and stop at specified times.
  • The Winter Fleet Tracking real-time analytic has been replaced with the Winter Vehicle Tracking real-time analytic.
  • The Vehicles_servicestatus Feed has been replaced with the Vehicles and Last Service Status Feed.
  • The Snow Route Status big data analytic has been replaced by the Winter Operations Analytics big data analytic and includes the following enhancements:
    • The number of passes and the history of completed service is recorded for each side of the road and tracked for each event and phase.
    • Distance traveled metrics are now summarized by in-service status as well as total distance traveled.
    • Material usage metrics now include both liquid and solid material reports and account for reported corrections.
    • New outputs layers, Event Service Summary and Phase Service Summary, helps users visualize what the last service status of roads were at the end of each phase and event, and helps users compare their response activity over the course of the season.
    • Key performance metrics are now summarized and written directly to the event and phase tables, helping users store and compare key metrics for winter events over multiple seasons.
1.1 (Apr 2022)
  • An update to the Status Reporter QuickCapture Project to leverage new location tracking capabilities in the ArcGIS QuickCapture mobile app.
  • Removed optional requirement for use of the ArcGIS Tracker mobile app.
  • Recent enhancements to ArcGIS Velocity streamlined workflows and reduced the number of analytics and feeds shipped with the solution.
1.0 (Nov 2021)