Achieving a Weather-Ready Nation Through Equitable Service Delivery

In over 150 years of service, protecting the American public from the dangers and impacts of severe weather remains critical to the NWS mission for the “protection of life and property.” Although the NWS has made important advances through Impact-Based Decision Support Services (IDSS), the 2021 NWS Service Equity Assessment (SEA) found gaps in the agency’s ability to meet this mission and vision of a Weather-Ready Nation. This is particularly significant for Historically Underserved Socially Vulnerable Communities (HUSVCs) that face barriers such as inadequate communications, limited technology, or lack of engagement with core partners (NWS, 2021). Furthermore, these communities are disproportionately impacted by severe weather, anthropogenic activity, and climate change (Benevolenza et al., 2019; Watts et al., 2021).

The NWS is committed to providing equitable services to underserved communities. The NWS Service Equity Priority Actions provide the framework to help ensure that HUSVCs receive weather, water, climate forecasts, and warning information in a timely manner and to help them prepare for the inevitable impacts of hazardous weather (NWS, 2023). The Priority Actions seek to continue the work being done across the NWS by empowering staff through knowledge and policies to best serve HUSVCs and advance the mission and vision for a Weather-Ready Nation. This panel will discuss progress made, challenges, and plans to further implement the five key areas of the Service Equity Priority Actions: Community Engagement, People and Policies, Training and Education, Tools and Technology, and Applied Research.