Making Alerts Actionable and Understandable: Moving to Plain Language and Streamlining Warning Updates

The National Weather Service (NWS) is beginning development and implementation of an effort to simplify our alerting system via the Hazard Simplification (Haz Simp) project. Over the last several years, we’ve consolidated our products, improved text formats, and explored new ways of displaying information. The NWS is now finalizing the concept of operations for replacing “Advisory” with plain language, as well as streamlining the way we provide updates to short-fuse warnings (e.g. Tornado Warning, Flash Flood Warning). During the last year, the NWS has undertaken extensive internal and external engagement to socialize and refine the details of these changes. This presentation will review results and provide an overview of the new paradigm including mock-ups of the plain language headlines and national and local alert displays. We will also discuss the planned improvements to the way we update, expire, and cancel short-fuse warnings. In the future, all warning follow-up information will be disseminated within the same product type as the original warning rather than a separate statement product. We welcome feedback and discussion as we continue to move toward more clear, concise, and consistent messaging.