In the US, weather information is produced and disseminated by many agencies and companies that aim to provide services that enhance decision-making and reduce risks to weather hazards. Historically, the development of weather products themselves and the tools used to disseminate weather information have been producer-driven. In other words, the process of product and tool development has typically been initiated and carried out by the agencies and companies that aim to provide weather information services and user expressed needs were rarely considered, before the new forecasting software became operational.

Global Systems Division (GSD), in collaboration with Social Science Woven into Meteorology (SSWIM) and several others, is pioneering a new endeavor with their development of Integrated Hazards Information Services (IHIS), a web-based interface informed by the needs of Users and meant to enhance two-way communication between National Weather Service (NWS) forecasters, Emergency Managers (EM), and others in Emergency Support roles. Between October 2010 and March 2011, anthropologist Spinney carried out semi-structured interviews with 35 Emergency Managers and others in Emergency Support roles from Central Texas, Missouri, and Kansas. Through in-depth ethnographic field studies she had four main l research questions for the partners:

1) What are their respective responsibilities, routines, emergency procedures, concerns in everyday situations, at different times of the year, and during hazardous weather situations?

2) What are their differing and similar vantage points?

3) What are the critical spatial and temporal factors considered prior to and during decision-making?

4) What are their weather information needs and how is this information accessed, shared, and transformed prior to transmission?

Through an iterative feedback process, GSD is creating a User-driven set of services by incorporating SSWIM's ethnographic research findings of partner cultures ¬¬¬into software development. This paper provides an overview of SSWIM's involvement in the IHIS project and describes several examples of how the needs of Emergency Managers' have been incorporated into the web-based communicative interface. The presentation will illustrate that weather information needs and partnerships between NWS, EMs, and others in Emergency Support roles are dynamic, ebbing and flowing, and differ based on hazards from region to region, and office to office.