People's attitudes and behaviors for weather forecast information based on where they live

Every day, the U.S. weather enterprise collectively provides multiple weather forecasts to a broad public audience. Although the weather community has a general and often experientially based sense of the public arena of weather forecasting, empirical research in this area can improve understanding of people's attitudes and behaviors regarding weather forecast information and how these vary among individuals. To begin to explore these topics, we conducted a nationwide, controlled-access Internet survey of the general public with 1465 completed responses. The socio-demographic characteristics of the sample are comparable to the U.S. population and represent a good geographic distribution with responses from every U.S. state. The survey included questions to assess from where and how often people obtain forecasts and how people perceive, use, and value forecast information. We matched respondents with climatological data and forecast verification measures based on their reported locations to assess how their experiences with weather compare with their attitudes and behaviors regarding weather forecast information. This presentation will discuss the findings from these survey questions with an emphasis on geographic variations across the U.S.