The Case for State-Based Climate Service Summits: Wisconsin Case Study

Many organizations including federal, state, academic institutions and others have been providing climate services for many years. Such services are as varied as are the users of the information. They are provided across time and geographic scales depending on the specific need of the user community. NOAA along with key partners have long recognized the necessity for consistent engagement, collaboration and coordination among these entities, especially at the state level. In 2018, the first of a series of state focused climate service summits to engage key decision makers took place in Wisconsin. The first summit was held in collaboration with the USDA's Midwest Climate Hub, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Midwestern Regional Climate Center and NOAA National Center for Environmental Information. The purpose of the meeting was to heighten awareness of national, regional and state-specific climate information and tools and to spur additional in-state discussions on climate services. Participants included key user groups such as, state departments of agriculture, natural resources, emergency management, health services and others. In addition, federal agencies, tribes, non-governmental organizations, municipalities and others in the state university system were invited. Several important outcomes about the needs for in-state services were determined and are in the process of being further developed. Other such state-by-state "summits" are planned for the following years across the nation.