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Weather-Ready Nation: Increasing Resilience to Extreme Weather

The U.S. National Weather Service is working towards building a Weather-Ready Nation by increasing community resilience to extreme weather events. They are developing new decision support services, improving technology for storm tracking and forecasting, and expanding their dissemination efforts to achieve national preparedness.

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Weather-Ready Nation: Increasing Resilience to Extreme Weather

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  1. Weather-Ready Nation Christopher Strager U.S. National Weather Service June 10-14, 2013 www.noaa.gov/wrn

  2. U.S. National Weather Service VISION MISSION

  3. NWS OperationsCommunity Based Services 3

  4. U.S. Disaster-related Approach • NOAA and the National Weather Service work with other Federal Agencies in an “All Hands on Deck” approach to disaster response and resilience • Department of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency • Department of Interior/U.S. Geological Survey • Department of Agriculture/U.S. Forestry Service • U.S. Army Corp of Engineers • Department of State/United States Agency for International Development---international collaboration programs

  5. “Average” Year and Trends in the U.S. • 26,000 Severe • Thunderstorms • 650 Deaths • $15B in Losses • 6 Atlantic • Hurricanes • 1,300 Tornadoes • 5,000 Floods Regardless of the cause, the trend shows an increasing number of extreme weather events at increasing cost to the nation. 6

  6. In the past few years…Scope of Disasters Reflects Our Societal Vulnerability

  7. “Superstorm” Sandy

  8. “Superstorm” Sandy Social and Economic Impacts 72 US deaths, plus 75 outside the US 17 US states affected; damage between $50-65 Billion 8.5 million without power at the height of the storm Over 18,000 commercial airline flights canceled Evacuations from Maryland to Massachusetts (400 miles of coastline) West Virginia paralyzed under 3 feet of snow LaGuardia airport – Courtesy of Jet Blue

  9. What will 2013 be known for…It is time to reverse this trend downward

  10. What is at Risk? What Can We Do?

  11. Weather-Ready NationDecreasing Vulnerability by Increasing Resilience Becoming a Weather-Ready Nation is about building community resilience in the face of increasing vulnerability to extreme weather. NOAA is developing new decision support services, improving technology to track and forecast storms, and expanding its dissemination efforts to achieve far-reaching national preparedness for weather events.

  12. Weather-Ready NationNWS Changes • New and rapidly evolving needs from society call for the National Weather Service to shift from the way we forecast and warn today to an impact-based decision support services approach. • This new focus has four elements: • Better understanding of societal impacts • Making our information more relevant to decision makers • Participating directly in decision making for those decisions fundamental to the role of government, especially the protection of life and property • Counting on market forces to provide diverse decision-support services across the entire economy

  13. How Do We Get to the Future? Build a Roadmap to a Weather-Ready Nation Society is Prepared for and Responds to Weather-Dependent Events

  14. Building a Weather-Ready NationEmphasis on Decision Support Services • Provide superior decision support and foundational information services • NWS will use our unique, local relationships with Core Partners to help them to better prepare our communities for extraordinary events • Invest in Science and Technology • Use state-of-the-art technology and cutting-edge science to provide the best service possible • Empower our workforce • Workforce is trained and equipped to meet America’s evolving needs • Emergency Response Specialists (ERS) are accessible on-site and through remote technologies

  15. Building a Weather-Ready NationWarnings and Forecasts From the Sun to the Sea Improved Hurricane forecasts Impact-based tornado warnings Delivering life-saving weather forecasts and warnings 16

  16. Building a Weather-Ready NationWarnings and Forecasts From the Sun to the Sea • Winter Storm Forecasts • -Lead time of 2-3 days • Wildfire Support • On-site • Meteorologists • Improved • space weather • forecasting Drought and flood forecasting 2011 Japan Tsunami: California Impacts 17

  17. Building a Weather-Ready NationInnovative Science and Technology Solutions Model Ensembles Tsunami Detection Phased Array Radar Next-Generation Polar Satellites

  18. Building a Weather-Ready NationSocial Media • Facebook • Twitter • Youtube

  19. Building a Weather-Ready Nation We need your help ▪ SOCIETAL RESPONSE EQUAL TO RISK ▪ NWS will continue to improve the science and the technical capabilities. We need your help in transforming society to become ready, responsive and resilient to increasing extreme weather threats. A Weather-Ready Nation requires our entire society to improve the way it incorporates weather information into decision making.

  20. Building a Weather-Ready NationIt’s All About Partnerships

  21. Building a Weather-Ready NationAmbassadors • Resilience as high priority • Preparedness • Responsiveness • Mitigation • Innovative partnerships • Reinvigorate existing relationships • Create new relationships • Expand beyond Weather Enterprise • Consistent messaging • More effective communication with public • Rising above the “noise” of daily life 22

  22. Weather-Ready Nation InitiativeDoesn’t Stop at Border…International Engagement • Same challenges exist in other countries • Global vulnerability increasing • Quantifying societal relevance • Communicating the science • We can learn from one another • Open dialogue • Sharing best practices • Strength in numbers 23

  23. Questions and Discussion christopher.strager@noaa.gov www.weather.gov www.noaa.gov/wrn

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