PORTLAND (WGME) — Driving this time of year, when winter weather hits, can be tricky, especially in Maine.

Fortunately, the Maine Turnpike Authority has above-ground weather sensors to keep them informed.

“What they do is they capture a bunch of atmospheric and pavement data, temperature data and conditions. They take that information and take it to our vendor, Vaisala, and they process that data and put it here on the screen for us to use in our winter maintenance operations,” Maine Turnpike Authority Project Manager Brian Taddeo said.

These sensors can also tell the turnpike authority how well tires are gripping the road.

“So the grip factor is the measure of friction between the tire and the roadway. That’s really important for us because it tells us the pavement is dry, mobility is not impacted by weather, because there is none,” Taddeo said.

The above ground weather sensors help determine several different factors about the road conditions. (WGME)

The highest the grip factor goes to is 0.82, which would be on a dry road.

As the roads become icy, that number will drop.

“This system is also a predictive system, so it can actually show us what’s going to happen 12 hours from now, 24 hours from now, 72 hours from now,” Taddeo said.

This allows the Maine Turnpike Authority to plan in advance of an upcoming storm.

That’s important as they cover a stretch of interstate from Kittery all the way up to Augusta.

The MTA has cameras set up along the Turnpike to see what road conditions look like. (WGME)

“We have 109 miles of road to cover, and this gives us the chance to see everything all at once, so we can dispatch our crews to whatever zones need to be handled,” Taddeo said.

The MTA also has underground sensors that are used to collect road data.