NWS Service Assessments: A Social, Behavioral, and Economic Science Review

Since the first National Weather Service (NWS) Service Assessment of The Tornadoes in Dallas, TX, on April 2, 1957, members of the weather community have been discussing the importance of understanding human behavior. Over the 60 years since, the benefits of including social science research have grown increasingly apparent, including the need for investment of additional resources. It is commonly recognized that theories and knowledge from social, behavioral, and economic (SBE) science disciplines can offer insight into understanding how communities, weather, and climate interact. The collaboration of social scientists and atmospheric scientists helps develop new ideas and approaches as well as more useful scientific, technical, and applied information from a variety of perspectives. The NWS has slowly been integrating SBE science into their operations. In order to fully utilize the benefits of SBE research, the NWS must direct more focus and funding to collecting and utilizing these important types of data, which have been very limited prior to this point.

This presentation analyzes one form for SBE data collection that the NWS has used for over six decades – Service Assessments. While not originally deemed to focus on SBE topics, they have emerged as an important tool in the data collection process for the NWS. From a review of Service Assessment reports over the last 18 years, it is evident SBE topics add to the value of the assessments. However, the majority of assessments, even recently, do not include true SBE data collection methods. Even then, SBE scientists only make up a small fraction of the service assessment team members. Looking at trends and recommendations from past service assessments, this presentation makes recommendations to the NWS on how to better integrate SBE scientists and data collection methods to improve the assessment process and provide valuable data for the NWS to improve their forecasts, products, and operations.