Hydroplaning 1

By: Jason Sedeski & Gavin Sandel

Overview
● Ima Driver was traveling on East College Ave on July 21, 2018 at 12:00pm
when she veered off the road and crashed into the storefront of Your
Building Center.
● Our team was approached with the task of reporting on the weather
conditions at that time.
● She claims she lost traction on the road due to a pool of water that caused
her to hydroplane. She is contesting her charge of reckless driving.
● We must determine whether the road would have been wet to warrant the
loss of traction.
Important Factors
● Was there any accumulated rain prior to the accident?
○ Just 1/12th of an inch of rain can cause hydroplaning
● Was rain occuring at the time of the accident?
● What does the accident scene look like?

● What data sources are both reliable and logical for use in this investigation?
Pictured is a view of E. College Ave. YBC is the white/maroon building on the left.
Road elevation gradually increases heading Southbound (into photo)
KUNV - Univ. Park Airport BEAV - Beaver Stadium
WLKR - Walker Building YBC - Your Building Center
Data Sources
How and where we found our data:

● Google Earth (satellite and street view readings)

● University Park Airport automated surface observations

● B-91 (temperature and precipitation totals) via Walker Building station

● NEXRAD Base Data for station KCCX

● Radar data from station KCCX

● WeatherSTEM data for Beaver Stadium station

● Iowa Environmental Mesonet Radar Loops

 COOP B-91
Our investigation begins with
cooperative data from the B-91
form for State College. No rain
accumulation was observed for
the three days prior to the
accident, and wasn’t observed
until 4:00pm on the date in
question.
NEXRAD Base Data
Good introduction to upcoming
radar data. State College radar
went into precip mode around
7:00am EDT
Although this doesn’t prove
anything it is good to know
precipitation was in radar range
at the time of the accident (16:00
GMT)
 DOPPLER
RADAR
Next, we looked at the RADAR
imagery from station KCCX. This
image from 11:52 am shows that
while a large shield of rain was
moving northwest through the
Commonwealth, it had not yet
begun to cover the State College
area.
 DOPPLER
RADAR (cont.)
Imagery from 2:04 pm EST
illustrates the speed of this weather
event, showing that two hours after
the crash the rain still had not
reached downtown State College.
Iowa Environmental Mesonet Radar Loop- U.S. Composite
From 12:00 AM EDT July 18 to 12:00 PM EDT July 22
WeatherSTEMS.com- temperature, humidity, rainfall data

Sourced from Beaver Stadium (closest source of data in proximity to YBC)

WeatherSTEMS.com
Humidity

● On a dry day, relative humidity peaks at sunrise and drops until late afternoon
● WeatherSTEMS shows sunrise peak, morning drop, then afternoon climb

Rainfall

● The rain gauge data doesn’t report measurable rainfall until just after 4:00 pm

Temperature

● Air temperature typically peaks in the late afternoon (~ 5 or 6pm in mid-July)

● The air temperature on the 21st was already beginning to fall at 1:00 pm.

Conclusion

● These details are all indicative of rainfall and this is consistent with the rain gauge data.
What information is important to us?
★ The B-91 form reports three dry days prior to the accident, and no rainfall until 4:00 pm the day of.

★ The Doppler RADAR illustrates that the rain was not blanketing State College at 12:00 pm (time of the accident)

★ The WeatherSTEMS rain gauge started gathering rain at 4:00 pm

★ Relative humidity and Temperature readings illustrate that it probably began raining around 4:00 pm.

★ The NEXRAD radar loop is consistent with the Doppler RADAR

All of these sources agree that rain was incredibly unlikely at 12:00 pm on July 21st or
the days before.
 In conclusion…..

We do not believe the

conditions warranted Ima
Driver to hydroplane.