Preparing for FACETs: The Need for Inclusive National Weather Service Forecaster Training and Innovative Collaboration Tools

A proposed next-generation severe weather watch and warning framework, Forecasting a Continuum of Environmental Threats (FACETs), could fundamentally change the way National Weather Service (NWS) forecasters issue life-saving severe weather notifications. An essential part of FACETs is a system of rapidly-updating probabilistic hazard grids, known as Probabilistic Hazard Information (PHI). PHI is inching closer to operations, as it is functional within an experimental version of the new NWS watch/warning issuance software. Dozens of NWS forecasters from across U.S. states and territories have given feedback on this software and concepts of PHI through several testbed experiments. Some of these experiments have analyzed forecasters’ relationships with NWS core partners. Forecasters’ suggestions will lead to the development of best practices for using the probabilistic guidance to issue severe hazard threat objects, as well as recommended Impact-Based Decision Support Services procedures. Since this could be part of a monumental new era of warning operations, comprehensive training development by the NWS/OCLO Warning Decision Training Division (WDTD) and other NWS training organizations is essential. This training will need to be diverse in scope and format to mold to the ever-changing role of the NWS forecaster. In addition, with PHI operations, NWS Weather Forecast Offices will collaborate more than ever, necessitating new communication strategies and innovative training. Preliminary training ideas will be shared in this presentation.