Improving the Local Climate Analysis Tool by Incorporating User Input

In 2013, the Local Climate Analysis Tool (LCAT, www.weather.gov/lcat/) became an operational tool to facilitate delivery of NWS climate services. The initial release included capabilities for assessing climate change and impacts of climate variability for air temperature and precipitation and their derivatives, such as degree days and drought indices at stations, climate divisions, and Climate Prediction Center forecast regions.

In 2018 and 2019, LCAT Arctic capabilities were extended to include the Climate Forecasting System (CFS) and CFS version 2 (CFSv2) reanalysis data sets to analyze sea ice thickness and extent, water salinity, water potential temperature, and air temperature over the ocean. The use of a commercial cloud service aided in testing and evaluation of the new capabilities. During this development phase, it became clear that there was a need for modernization of the LCAT interface and supporting software. A prototype version of LCAT is being developed that features a map-driven interface and streamlined source code to aid incorporation of new capabilities (including the forthcoming LCAT “Coastal” initiative).

Periodic LCAT user interviews indicated that users are underutilizing LCAT capabilities for drought analysis. NWS’s partner, the University of North Carolina Asheville’s National Environmental Modeling and Analysis Center (NEMAC), facilitated an analysis of user perspectives of the tool’s drought capabilities through LCAT usability studies. Google Analytics data provided valuable input to the study. User interviews were also conducted to solicit direct feedback. The LCAT usability studies yielded recommendations for a new design of the LCAT interface. The feedback also included a recommendation for a training component for LCAT drought studies, and thus NWS is producing a new training module. The new online user interface that will include a more user-friendly structure for training has a target release date of June 2020.