Messaging to Spanish-Speaking Populations during the Extreme Weather Events of 2017–18

The National Weather Service (NWS) has created two programs to improve mission delivery to Spanish-speaking communities. One program, the Spanish Outreach Team (SOT), is comprised of bilingual meteorologists from the various NWS regions. Since 2014, SOT members were instrumental in translating many of the outreach and preparedness materials, such as hazardous weather safety pamphlets and websites, fact sheets, and awareness flyers, and were distributed across the United States, Puerto Rico, and Latin America. The second program, the Multimedia Assistance in Spanish (MAS) team, was formed in 2016 to support active weather operations for NWS Southern Region offices needing messaging assistance in Spanish. The translation of information contained within critical products and services, whether in text products, media interviews, or social media posts, helped ensure effective messaging during life-threatening weather emergencies.

During 2017, the nation was severely impacted by four multi-billion dollar weather disasters, namely Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, as well as the Western Wildfires. The epicenters of three of these events (i.e. Texas, Florida, and California) rank as the top three states with the most Spanish-speaking residents, while Spanish is identified as the primary language in Puerto Rico. During Hurricane Harvey, the SOT translated flood graphic annotations in coordination with the NWS Office of Communications for Hispanic residents in Texas, while the MAS team translated media talking points composed by the NWS Regional Operations Center (Southern Region). During Hurricane Irma, SOT members were deployed to key locations in Florida to assist with Spanish TV and radio interviews, video briefings, and social media in support of NWS field offices and the National Hurricane Center. Similar translation services were employed during the firestorms in California and Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. This presentation will highlight best practices and lessons learned from shared experiences of the SOT/MAS teams during 2017 and future work to expand Spanish services toward an improved Weather-Ready Nation.