Skip to main content

Your weather tweets could make the streets (and highways) safer during bad weather

storm jonas snow eating snowy icy conditions bad weather streets ice blizzard
Image used with permission by copyright holder
All that complaining on social media about the weather may actually go to something good. Researchers at the University at Buffalo believe that tweets on weather conditions could be incorporated into traffic models to make roads safer when the weather’s bad.

Using social media for weather reports is nothing new. National Weather Service offices across the country accept snowfall and severe weather damage reports that way, and meteorologists have found Twitter and other outlets useful in filling in gaps in observational data to verify their forecasts. However, using it to manage traffic flow is actually something that hasn’t been done.

“Twitter users provide an unparalleled amount of hyperlocal data that we can use to improve our ability to direct traffic during snowstorms and adverse weather,” UB Institute for Sustainable Transportation and Logistics director Dr. Adel Sadek says.

Traffic models currently take into account data from nearby weather stations and from sensors and cameras to make decisions on road closures and safe speeds when the weather’s bad. But the data is limited because it is hard to discern actual road conditions through these methods. Sadek and his team of researchers believe that tweets that are geo-located can often fill in these gaps.

We all have a tendency to talk about the weather on social media, and this tendency typically increases when the weather is particularly bad. Sadek and his team compared this increase to actual traffic data, and found a correlation. Better yet, the accuracy of the models improved when the Twitter data was added in.

Such modeling improvements could lead to better safe driving speed recommendations, more efficient road closures and detours, and even better arrival time estimates on the smart boards that have appeared on many highways across the country over the past few years.

Work is still ongoing, as the researcher’s work was only tested using data from the Buffalo metropolitan area. Over the coming months, Sadek and others plan to test their theories in other regions and for longer periods of time.

*An earlier version of this article stated that the research came from the University of Buffalo, instead of the University at Buffalo. We apologize for the mistake, and have amended the article to correct the error.

Ed Oswald
For fifteen years, Ed has written about the latest and greatest in gadgets and technology trends. At Digital Trends, he's…
How to make a GIF from a YouTube video
woman sitting and using laptop

Sometimes, whether you're chatting with friends or posting on social media, words just aren't enough -- you need a GIF to fully convey your feelings. If there's a moment from a YouTube video that you want to snip into a GIF, the good news is that you don't need complex software to so it. There are now a bunch of ways to make a GIF from a YouTube video right in your browser.

If you want to use desktop software like Photoshop to make a GIF, then you'll need to download the YouTube video first before you can start making a GIF. However, if you don't want to go through that bother then there are several ways you can make a GIF right in your browser, without the need to download anything. That's ideal if you're working with a low-specced laptop or on a phone, as all the processing to make the GIF is done in the cloud rather than on your machine. With these options you can make quick and fun GIFs from YouTube videos in just a few minutes.
Use GIFs.com for great customization
Step 1: Find the YouTube video that you want to turn into a GIF (perhaps a NASA archive?) and copy its URL.

Read more
I paid Meta to ‘verify’ me — here’s what actually happened
An Instagram profile on an iPhone.

In the fall of 2023 I decided to do a little experiment in the height of the “blue check” hysteria. Twitter had shifted from verifying accounts based (more or less) on merit or importance and instead would let users pay for a blue checkmark. That obviously went (and still goes) badly. Meanwhile, Meta opened its own verification service earlier in the year, called Meta Verified.

Mostly aimed at “creators,” Meta Verified costs $15 a month and helps you “establish your account authenticity and help[s] your community know it’s the real us with a verified badge." It also gives you “proactive account protection” to help fight impersonation by (in part) requiring you to use two-factor authentication. You’ll also get direct account support “from a real person,” and exclusive features like stickers and stars.

Read more
Here’s how to delete your YouTube account on any device
How to delete your YouTube account

Wanting to get out of the YouTube business? If you want to delete your YouTube account, all you need to do is go to your YouTube Studio page, go to the Advanced Settings, and follow the section that will guide you to permanently delete your account. If you need help with these steps, or want to do so on a platform that isn't your computer, you can follow the steps below.

Note that the following steps will delete your YouTube channel, not your associated Google account.

Read more