Super Typhoon Mawar: Embracing Social Media to Keep the World Informed

Super Typhoon Mawar developed in the western North Pacific (WNP), south of Guam in mid-May, 2023, then steadily intensified, passing over Guam as a Category 4 typhoon on 24 May. With numerical guidance showing strong support for a significant tropical cyclone more than a week in advance, National Weather Service (NWS) forecasters at the Guam Weather Forecast Office (WFO) sought every opportunity to communicate the evolving threat to key decision makers, the media, and the general public. Noting that 1) a fair-weather weekend was approaching before the developing tropical cyclone, and 2) island media news coverage largely becomes dormant over the weekends, forecasters decided to highlight the emerging threat with a Facebook Live session to inject information directly to the public ahead of the weekend. Originally intending to hold one Facebook Live session per day, the need for more-frequent communications became increasingly apparent as Typhoon Mawar continued to intensify and approach the Marianas. In response, the NWS Guam office held 2, sometimes 3, sessions daily up until just after landfall of Mawar.

During the Live sessions on 22 and 23 May, some notable trends began to emerge. First, compared to prior Facebook Live sessions for the developing Mawar and tropical cyclones of prior years in which Live audience counts reached into the 300-600 range, counts started to exceed 1000, then 2000 viewers. While past Live sessions usually lasted around 10 minutes, Live sessions for Mawar occasionally lasted between 20 and 30 minutes long – and without loss of viewers. Additionally, while the Live sessions were directed for residents of the Marianas, a large portion of viewers were off-island, both national and international. Debuting a touch-screen smartboard to annotate graphics while presenting, presenters periodically cycled back to the main forecast track and central information within each Live session to ensure viewers saw the most important information regardless of the point in which they joined.

These Live sessions, while geared to communicate weather forecast and preparation tips for local island residents, opened a window to let the world see in. They informed the off-island families of those in the Marianas, whether civilian or military; provided information to national and international media; and also provided talking points for academia regarding the subject of scientific communication and social science. These Live sessions also provided talking points in university meteorology classes, enhancing real-time classroom discussions and served as the source for lecture material.