Creating a Weather Ready Nation for our Neurodiverse Communities

The National Weather Service (NWS) office in Hanford, California is sharing and developing weather safety informational graphics geared towards the neurodiverse community.The information highlights specific points of external and internal sensory perception that are more likely to be encountered by the neurodiverse community. The graphics, distributed in English and Spanish, focus on hazards like heat and cold water safety and heat, especially because of the very dangerous stream flows resulting from snowmelt, during the spring and summer of 2023, in California. This endeavor expands upon the work done by Bolton, on the intersection of Autism and weather. In addition, research by Trujillo-Falcon is used regarding communicating these same impacts to Spanish speaking neurodiverse populations.

The graphics are gaining national media attention through outlets like Conexión con el Tiempo (Weather Channel en Espanol). Furthermore, positive feedback was shared by schools and broadcast partners, even by an emergency manager in Maryland, who are including the graphics in their weather safety messaging. The NWS Western Region Director and the Science Technology and Infusion Division chief provided positive feedback. This presentation will detail the effectiveness of these graphics and discuss ongoing strategies for wider dissemination across the weather enterprise.