A contract worth up to £55,000 was put out for tender earlier this year for the next three winters, inviting companies to offer their weather forecasting services.
The tender document specified that the service was to be provided specifically for the council in some detail.
It said: "The services to be delivered are: To provide weather forecasts as detailed below throughout the winter period between the 2nd Monday in October to the last day of April on an annual basis;
"Text forecasts to be emailed to Senior Support Officers - up to 10 officers.
It added: " Forecasts provided shall be written specifically for the geographical area managed by Swindon Borough Council; generic regional text shall not be provided.
"The forecaster shall have the ability to change or edit individual values in any cell within the hazard table and to manually adjust site-specific graphs, altering forecasts of minimum temperatures, temperature curves and surface hazards in order to improve the quality if deemed necessary."
The cabinet member for Highways and the Environment, Councillor Chris Watts, said the authority needs such granular information, which is not available from much more general services available to the public.
He said: "Keeping our roads safe during winter is a statutory function of Swindon Borough Council and is one of the Council's key priorities. To do this effectively, we need much more detailed information than the general weather forecasts available to the public.
"Public forecasts, such as those from the Met Office, cover wide areas and predict air temperature. What we need are forecasts that focus on road surface temperatures which can fall below freezing even when the air temperature is above zero. That level of local detail is vital to know exactly when and where ice is likely to form.
"We currently use a specialist forecasting service provided by MetDesk, which gives detailed, site-specific reports from our two local weather stations at Blagrove and Bush Cross. These stations measure local road and air conditions and give information about when roads might freeze.
"MetDesk's qualified meteorologists monitor the data around the clock and adjust forecasts by hand to reflect Swindon's local conditions. This means our gritting crews can go out at the right time and to the right places, keeping motorists safe while avoiding unnecessary treatments and conserving our salt supplies.
"Forecasts feed directly into our winter service systems so our highways team can plan and respond in real time. The contract is nearly £30,000 over three years, around £9,000 a year, which represents good value for a service that helps us keep Swindon moving safely in cold weather."