Development of a meteorological forecast for snow accumulation on transmission lines

Abstract

In Hokkaido we have often experienced hazardous accidents, such as tower collapses and conductor breakage, caused by wet-snow accretion on transmission lines, and over many years have developed countermeasures for wet-snow accretion. Recently we have been developing a system to forecast areas where snow accretion may occur. We used the southern part of Hokkaido, divided into 5 km × 5 km meshes, as a forecast area; our predictions were hourly, 3–24 hours in advance. A method of predicting meteorological data which forms an important part of the system predicts three elements which influence wet-snow accretion: air temperature, precipitation, and wind direction and speed. We used an interpolation for predicting temperature and precipitation and a one-level, mesoscale model for diagnosing surface winds for wind direction and speed. By applying the method to many examples of wet-snow accretion, we checked the prediction of weather elements.