Iowa Roadway Weather Information System Live Traffic Data

Iowa's live traffic data is collected from Roadway Weather Information System (RWIS) sensor sites. The State of Iowa provides this data, which is updated every 5 minutes. Invalid sensor readings, indicated by NA or 9999 values, are excluded from the REST service feed.

Use Cases

• Predict road surface conditions from sensor temperature and precipitation readings.
• Analyze traffic flow patterns using sensor-reported vehicle count and speed data.
• Develop winter maintenance strategies by correlating air temperature and pavement condition fields.
• Validate weather forecast models against real-time atmospheric pressure and visibility observations from RWIS sites.

Strengths

• Data is updated at a high frequency of every 5 minutes.
• Invalid sensor data (NA or 9999) is explicitly flagged and excluded from the service.
• Provided by an authoritative state government organization.

Limitations

• The specific number of sensor sites, rows, and data columns is unknown.
• Geographic coverage is limited to the state of Iowa, limiting broader applicability.
• Data quality is dependent on sensor uptime and calibration, which is not detailed.

Provenance

Source

State of Iowa.

Collection Method

Collected from Roadway Weather Information System (RWIS) sensor sites.

Time Range

Live/current data; historical range unknown.

Freshness

Updated every 5 minutes; last platform update recorded in April 2026.

Geography

Iowa, USA.