Providing Tropical Decision Support Services using GIS during Hurricane Ian

The decision to ask people to leave their homes is never an easy one for public safety officials. The economic disruption of an evacuation and the risk of relocating vulnerable people is always weighed against the risk posed by the storm. Vital weather and water forecasts provided by the National Weather Service (NWS) can be imported into a Geographic Information System (GIS) display both familiar to public safety partners and powerful enough to analyze key decision points. The need for NWS-provided assistance in interpreting weather and water forecast data within the world of GIS becomes critical with the impending addition of NWS Flood Inundation Mapping.

During Hurricane Ian in September 2022, the National Weather Service forecast office in Miami deployed a meteorologist to the Collier County Emergency Operations Center to directly support Collier County. Working side-by-side with the GIS specialist at the Collier County EOC, customized maps providing critical probabilistic storm surge forecast information from the National Hurricane Center’s Storm Surge Unit allowed public safety officials across the county to understand the potential impacts to their areas and the relative risk compared to their impact thresholds. This allowed an efficient and timely evacuation of at-risk populations ahead of Hurricane Ian.

This presentation will examine some lessons learned from this event and some of the improvements that are planned in the future. A collection of basic GIS skills, training, and equipment to consider for all deployed operational meteorologists will be discussed. The value of conducting GIS-aimed partner visits and collaborations will also be explored.