Identifying Common Themes and Gaps in the National Weather Service Tropical Product Suite

In 2019, the National Weather Service (NWS) Tropical Program began a process to develop a tropical roadmap, a document to define short and long term improvements to NWS tropical products and services. To lay the groundwork for the roadmap, the tropical program undertook a massive effort to review NWS service assessments, social science studies, NOAA Hurricane Conference action items, web statistics and social media to identify themes and gaps in the current official tropical product suite, issues with production of the current tropical products and partner understanding of the current tropical products. The outcome of this initial review identified six themes for further discussion and research as the tropical product suite evolves. These themes include clarity and usability of products, consistency of message, risk perception, dissemination and reach, education/outreach and other potential product and programmatic improvements. This presentation will highlight the themes and gaps identified in the literature review, delve into the web and social media analysis, and discuss additional social science studies that will address some of the common gaps in the current tropical product suite.