Historical Seattle Snowfall: Effective Social Media Messaging During Record February Snowstorms

In 2019, Seattle recorded its snowiest February on record with 20.2" of snow in 9 days, shattering the previous February record of 13.1" of snow in 1949. As expected, social media was abuzz across Western Washington prior to the record setting snowstorms. Challenges existed before, during, and after snowstorms to maintain consistent messaging across all platforms. Within a span of 14 days, from February 1-14, the National Weather Service in Seattle Twitter and Facebook accounts each gained over 11,500 new followers. Twitter analytics suggest over 21,000 retweets were accumulated over the 14 day stretch with nearly 21.8 million impressions across 823 tweets sent. Over 607,000 Facebook users engaged 151 posts on Facebook from February 1-14 with nearly 7.3 million impressions. Graphics created for the social media accounts were customized for the public specifically to adhere to the necessary information. In addition, the quantitative success on both social media platforms stemmed from five major themes identified following the active stretch: Continuous Updates, Public Engagement, the Effectiveness of Conveying Uncertainty, the Focus on Impacts, and the Posting of a Variety of Information.

The effective use of social media platforms surrounding major weather events can build upon the relationship between meteorologists and those in our local area. Posts on social media during the Seattle snowstorms varied from the local forecast, to snowfall amounts, to climate insights, and even incorporated some light humor along the way. Despite mesoscale tendencies and local topographical details of Western Washington in regards to the weather forecast of the snowstorms, continuous updates provided on social media kept those in the local area constantly up to date of the latest information. This presentation will chronologically guide the audience through the National Weather Service Seattle social media accounts before, during, and after the event.