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Climate and the Paving Season

In this week’s RoadReady Newsletter, we took a look at the effects of asphalt paving in cooler temperatures, and steps that can be taken to minimize the adverse effects of paving at night or later in the year. Ideally, roadway agencies like to perform the bulk of their projects in the paving season, or the part of the year where paving conditions are ideal. This generally starts in the spring or summer, and lasts until it gets too cold outside to pave. Because of the dependence on temperature, the ideal paving season varies heavily from place to place. For instance, paving in places like southern California or Arizona can proceed at just about any time of the year without temperature concerns. However, colder climates such as Minnesota and Michigan have a much shorter window, and are likely to undertake more projects where temperature is a factor.

In the tables below, we’ve provided some temperature data for cities around the U.S. and across the globe. Each entry indicates the average daily high for that month in that city in degrees Fahrenheit. Cold weather paving can be broadly defined as paving when the air temperature is below 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Red numbers in the graph indicate months where the average daily high is above 60 degrees, and therefore paving can generally be safely conducted without worrying about cool paving measures. Green entries are those which fall between 50 and 60 degrees, indicating the range where temperature could become an issue depending on immediate conditions. Blue months are those where daily high falls below 50 degrees. In these ranges, cold paving measures will most likely be an important factor, if paving is conducted at all. Included is a map showing where in the U.S. the data is taken from. Note that because these are values of daily highs, any night paving will be in significantly colder temperatures than those shown.

Average daily high values by month in selected U.S. cities (degrees Fahrenheit)

Locations of U.S. temperature data

Average daily high values by month in selected international cities (degrees Fahrenheit)

For temperature data and additional cool paving resources, check out the following links:

National Climatic Data Center

Weatherbase.com

PaveCool (free pavement temperature software from MnDOT)

Temperature and Compaction Effects

U.S. Cities	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Atlanta, Georgia	52	56	64	73	80	86	89	88	82	73	63	54
Boise, Idaho	36	44	53	62	71	80	90	88	78	65	48	38
Chicago, Illinois	29	34	45	58	70	80	84	82	75	63	48	35
Denver, Colorado	43	47	52	62	71	82	88	86	77	66	52	45
Detroit, Michigan	32	34	44	58	69	79	83	81	74	62	48	36
Houston, Texas	62	66	72	79	85	90	93	93	88	82	72	65
Lincoln, Nebraska	34	40	50	65	75	85	91	89	80	69	52	39
Los Angeles, California	66	67	69	71	73	77	82	83	82	77	73	67
Miami, Florida	76	77	80	83	86	88	89	90	88	85	80	77
Minneapolis, Minnesota	21	27	39	56	69	78	83	81	71	59	49	26
Missoula, Montana	33	39	48	57	65	73	84	83	71	57	41	32
New York, New York	38	40	50	61	72	80	85	84	76	65	54	43
Phoenix, Arizona	66	70	75	84	93	103	105	103	99	88	75	66
Richmond, Virginia	47	50	59	69	78	85	88	87	81	71	60	50
San Francisco, California	57	60	62	63	64	66	66	67	69	69	64	57
Seattle, Washington	45	49	53	58	64	69	74	74	68	60	51	47
St. Louis, Missouri	39	44	54	67	76	85	89	87	80	69	54	43

This entry was posted on Monday, October 31st, 2011 at 6:34 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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Climate and the Paving Season

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