Factors Influencing Tampa Bay Area Resident's Motivations and Perceived Usefulness of a Weather-Radar Display

Weather information is widely available across many media platforms including television, computers, tablets, and smartphones. In addition to forecast information, people are seeking and using a variety of weather information sources that provide them with current conditions and include tools such as satellite images and weather radar displays. However, little is known about how these information sources are used and perceived as decision-making tools among members of the public, despite the existence of radar since the 1940s.

This study is phase one of a two phase, mixed methods research project to understand how Tampa Bay Area residents are using a weather radar display. Specifically, this phase aims to identify the perceived usefulness of a weather radar display by Tampa Bay Area residents. A second goal of this study is to determine which variables motivate an individual to use a weather radar display. This research expands on a conceptual framework previously created in order to understand the usefulness of the National Weather Service’s weather radar display. The framework looks at several factors, which were categorized as intrinsic or extrinsic, that might influence the motivation a person has to use a weather radar display. Data were collected using a survey instrument that was disseminated by the National Weather Service Ruskin office, The University of South Florida, and several broadcast meteorologists in the Tampa Bay Area on websites and social media platforms.

In addition to understanding what motivates Tampa Bay residents to use a radar display, this study also analyzes several characteristics about the study population including whether they have previously taken a meteorology course, use radar to make decisions at work, consider themselves to be a weather enthusiast, and includes their weather salience ranking metric. These variables add context to the analysis in order to understand what motivates someone to use a weather radar display.

Overall the majority of survey participants indicate that they find a weather radar display to be very useful. Just over 65% of all participants stated that they view a weather radar display 5-7 days a week. Participants also agreed that using a weather radar display helps them to feel confident when making decisions about real-time precipitation events with 33.5% stating that they somewhat agree and 62.6% stating that they strongly agree. Several intrinsic and extrinsic factors appear to significantly influence the usefulness of a weather radar display such as environmental cues and trust for weather data. The possibility of experiencing severe weather such as hurricanes or tornadoes is a major motivating factor. Lightning is another important phenomenon that is motivating to view radar. Radar users are primarily interested in viewing radar to understand how long they will potentially be impacted by a precipitation or storm event and to assess the severity of the event.

This study is a novel exploration of how Tampa Bay Area residents use radar and identifies several important factors that influence how useful they find radar. Results of this study can be used to better understand when and why radar is chosen as a decision-making tool. Some variables may also help to make suggestions or improvements to existing radar displays.