Tonight on the Carolina Weather Group, we talk with Kelly Wells from the North Carolina Department of Transportation about the relaunched drivenc.gov website. Wells provides a walkthrough of the new site, which features over 1,000 live streaming traffic cameras across the state. The site includes map layers for traffic congestion, road closures, incidents, road work, and weather events. Users can view real-time conditions for ferries and rest areas, and see the warnings currently displayed on highway message signs. The site also integrates weather radar, National Weather Service alerts, and weather forecasts directly onto the map. Through the "My Drive NC" feature, travelers can select favorite cameras, save routes, and draw custom regions on the map to receive targeted email or text alerts for road conditions. The platform also feeds this traffic data to navigation apps like Waze, Google Maps, Apple Maps, and TomTom. NCDOT monitors the roads using five traffic management centers across the state, which now receive proactive push alerts for traffic incidents. A Drive NC mobile app is also now available for download.Also in this episode, Sam Walker details traffic management on the Outer Banks, including the Barco diversion at the intersection of US 158 and NC 168, which is used during hurricane evacuations to divert traffic away from bridge-tunnels in Virginia. Frank Strait provides the Carolina weather forecast, tracking ongoing flash flood warnings and severe thunderstorms. He outlines an incoming heatwave that will bring high temperatures near 100 degrees and heat index values between 105 and 110 degrees, before a cold front brings cooling showers by Sunday and Monday.The panel also discusses the CoCoRaHS rain gauge network, a destructive 4th of July thunderstorm in New York, and Colorado State University's updated forecast lowering the season's prediction to nine named storms. 🤝 SUPPORT THE CHANNEL & GET PERKS📹 Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmhGiYbMDccQcdSjpf87nGg/join🧢 MERCH: https://carolinaweathergroup.qbstores.com/💸 LEAVE A TIP: https://streamelements.com/carolinawxgroup/tip🎙️ SUBSCRIBE TO OUR PODCAST: https://anchor.fm/carolinaweather🔔 SUPPORT US ON PATREON: https://patreon.com/carolinaweathergroup💻 VISIT OUR WEBSITE: https://carolinaweathergroup.com 🌤️ ABOUT THE CAROLINA WEATHER GROUPThe Carolina Weather Group operates a weekly talk show of the same name. Broadcasting each week from the Carolinas, the show is dedicated to covering weather, science, technology, and more with newsmakers from the field of atmospheric science. With co-hosts across both North Carolina and South Carolina, the show may closely feature both NC weather and SC weather, but the topics are universally enjoyable for any weather fan. Join us as we talk about weather, the environment, the atmosphere, space travel, and all the technology that makes it possible.
