Since these events are so rare, they generate incredible amounts of public interest. During the 2017 total solar eclipse, the first in the United States since 1979, researchers calculated that approximately 20 million people traveled to see the event, with more than 5 million traveling into the path of totality. This put a severe strain on highways and airspace, with impacted Departments of Transportation (DOT) and Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCC) measuring an increase in traffic volume of 32% and 29%, respectively, in the days leading up to and immediately following the eclipse. With almost 3 times as many people living in the path of totality for 2024, and the expected increased interest due to the recent 2017 total eclipse, it was likely that travel impacts would be even more substantial in 2024.
Recognizing the importance that weather could have on what was anticipated to be one of the busiest travel days ever across the country, multiple sectors of the National Weather Service (NWS) partnered together to produce collaborated forecasts and briefings for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), national media outlets, and public decision makers. This effort leveraged subject matter experts from the Aviation Weather Center (AWC), the Weather Prediction Center (WPC), the Climate Prediction Center (CPC), NWS Public Affairs (PA), and NWS Communications (Comms), and consisted of two collaborative endeavors with organized meetings and briefing templates beginning about 1 month before the eclipse and continuing through the eclipse day itself.
For the aviation community, AWC National Aviation Meteorologists (NAM) coordinated effectively with AWC Lead Meteorologists, CPC, and WPC meteorologists to prepare briefings to highlight forecast concerns for the identified needs of the FAA. This included daily forecasts for the most hazardous air travel conditions: cloud cover, ceilings and visibility, probability of precipitation (for thunderstorms, rain, and snow), and surface winds. The team collectively designed a briefing template to ensure a consistent message, and coordinated daily via a dedicated channel on the Slack platform, resulting in multiple NAM briefings to the FAA leading up to the eclipse. This enhanced decision support resulted in safe and effective management of the unprecedented air traffic associated with the eclipse.
On the public side, WPC, PA, and Comms leveraged the already successful paradigm of the Collaborated Key Messages issued for hazardous winter weather and extreme temperatures to message the forecast leading up to the eclipse. Through daily coordination via a Google Chat room, and within weekly Google Meet video conferences, the team developed best practices for social media messaging, and produced a succinct Key Message graphic which used NBM or NDFD cloud cover forecasts, eclipse path projections, WPC hazardous weather information, and brief meteorological reasoning behind the graphic. This graphic was shared externally via social media platforms to help guide eclipse-related decision making by media partners and emergency managers.
This collaborative effort by multiple sectors of NWS allowed millions of people to successfully, and safely, witness this once-in-a-generation event.
The presentation will highlight the development, coordination, and result of these endeavors to underline the importance of consistent and collaborative messaging for a historical, CONUS-wide event. We believe these efforts showcase the flexibility and adaptability of NWS employees to respond quickly to core partner needs, reflecting the ongoing transformation to a more collaborative and probabilistic NWS.
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