Forecasting a Continuum of Environmental Threats (FACETs): A Proposed Next-Generation Hazardous Weather Forecasting & Communication Paradigm

The National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL), the National Weather Service (NWS), the Global Systems Division (GSD) of the Earth Systems Research Laboratory (ESRL) and the University of Oklahoma Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies (CIMMS) are exploring the development of a next-generation concept for forecasting and communicating hazardous weather impacts. Known as Forecasting a Continuum of Environmental Threats (FACETs), this paradigm proposes a holistic new approach to NWS watches/warnings whereby probabilistic hazard information (PHI) - informed by social and behavioral science throughout the entire watch/warning process – communicate the weather threat across a continuum from days to minutes. This presentation will describe the overarching vision of FACETs, along with results and recommendations from the June 2014 FACETs Science and Strategic Implementation Plan (SSIP) Development Team Workshop. In this workshop, representatives from across NOAA, cooperative institutes, private sector, emergency management and social/behavioral science disciplines began crafting a comprehensive plan for the research, development and implementation (RD&I) of FACETs. Finally, preliminary results from the first-ever, FACETs-related Hazardous Weather Testbed experiments in 2014 will be presented to segue into subsequent, in-depth presentations by CIMMS and GSD.