Iowa Roadway Weather and Traffic Sensor Feed

Live traffic and weather data from Roadway Weather Information System sites across Iowa. The data is updated every 5 minutes and is provided by the State of Iowa, with the last platform update recorded in April 2026. Invalid sensor readings, indicated by NA or 9999 values, are excluded from the service.

Use Cases

• Predict road surface conditions from sensor-reported temperature and precipitation data for winter maintenance routing.
• Model traffic flow anomalies by correlating sensor-reported vehicle counts with weather metrics like visibility or wind speed.
• Detect sensor malfunctions by identifying patterns of invalid NA or 9999 values in the time-series data stream.
• Analyze spatial patterns of road weather hazards by mapping sensor data from geolocated RWIS sites across Iowa.

Strengths

• Data is updated at a high frequency of every 5 minutes, enabling near-real-time analysis.
• Invalid sensor readings (NA or 9999) are explicitly flagged and excluded, improving data cleanliness.

Limitations

• The specific number of sensor sites, rows of data, and available columns are unknown, limiting assessment of scope.
• Spatial coverage is limited to the state of Iowa, reducing generalizability for national models.

Provenance

Source

State of Iowa, via the Roadway Weather Information System (RWIS).

Collection Method

Collected from automated RWIS sensor sites along roadways.

Time Range

Live/current data; historical range is unspecified.

Freshness

Updated every 5 minutes.

Geography

State of Iowa, United States.