Understanding the NOAA Storm Prediction Center’s Severe Weather Outlook Probabilities continues to present a challenge for media and emergency managers. The challenge is how to convey the values and messages to the public in order to properly prepare for severe weather in the area. Since the probability of precipitation can be so high, the probability of severe weather is often much less than that of precipitation. And the addition of the probability of the extreme event like a tornado producing F2 damage or greater is generally another remote probability!

This workshop will review the concepts of the SPC Probability Severe Weather Outlook, how it is interpreted and can be simply used for the general public. It will also show how the information in these outlooks can be used to prepare your viewers for different types of severe weather.