Gauging the Impact of Extreme Precipitation on Infrastructure

Episode Summary

In this episode, Ken Kunkel – principal research scholar at the North Carolina Institute of Climate Studies at North Carolina State University – explains how transportation agencies can use the Atlas 15 weather tool developed by the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration to measure the impact of extreme precipitation on infrastructure, such as roads and bridges.

Episode Notes

This podcast series is part of the AASHTO Environmental Management technical service program operated by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. It explores a wide array of environmental topics that affect state departments of transportation and the infrastructure programs they oversee.

Ken Kunkel – principal research scholar at the North Carolina Institute of Climate Studies at North Carolina State University – offers a wealth of knowledge on all things meteorology and extreme precipitation, including over 40 years of climate and precipitation research. He is an author on the third and fourth U.S. National Climate Assessments. He is also the lead author of the 2020 North Carolina Climate Science Report. He has published around 170 scientific journal articles and book chapters, mostly on climate variability and change.

In this episode Kunkel discusses the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration or NOAA tool known as Atlas 15. The purpose of Atlas 15 is to produce extreme precipitation values that are used in design in infrastructure. Atlas 15 is also able to incorporate changing climate models when producing future data. He dives into how effective and accurate Atlas 15 is and how its data can improve the resiliency of infrastructure, particularly in the transportation sector.