Broadcast Meteorologist and Emergency Manager Interpretations of a Redesigned Hurricane Threats and Impacts Forecast Visualization

Tropical cyclones pose multiple interrelated hazards, including strong winds, coastal flooding, heavy rain, and tornadoes. However, recent tropical cyclone events, such as Hurricane Ian, demonstrate the challenges in communicating information about the most impactful hazards. Hurricane Threats and Impacts (HTI) graphics were developed by the U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) to respond to the need for more hazard-specific forecast information, but current versions of these graphics have yet to be widely adopted as a planning tool when making decisions and communicating information during tropical cyclone events. To improve HTI graphics, our research team has engaged in an iterative design process, integrating feedback from members of the public and best practices in data visualization to guide development of a prototype HTI redesign.

In this presentation, we report on the results of interviews conducted with broadcast meteorologists and emergency managers in hurricane-prone areas to elicit their perspectives on the current and prototype redesigned versions of the HTI. We will discuss results from analyses of these interview data, including findings related to how these professionals use HTI information, what they like and dislike about the prototype redesign, and what changes they suggest to make the prototype more useful for their job responsibilities. These results also help shed light on the operational needs that need to be addressed for broadcast meteorologists and emergency managers to more widely adopt HTI graphics as a tropical cyclone messaging and planning tool. These perspectives are being used to further refine our prototype HTI redesign to account for these users’ specific needs and use cases, improving the usability and understandability of information communicating the multiple hazards posed by tropical cyclones. More broadly, this analysis will guide the development of recommendations and best practices in multi-hazard visual communication, which could be applied to other risk contexts in which multiple hazards occur concurrently. Such best practices can be used by NWS and other weather communicators to improve the communication of multi-hazard events as they evolve in order to improve decision-making and decrease loss of life and property.