Winter storms in the United States often wreak havoc in the highly populated areas affected by the adverse conditions. High winds can damage homes and businesses, heavy snow and ice can interrupt transportation and lead to an increase in accidents and injuries, and heavy rain can cause major flooding. In many of these storms, some people are still “caught off-guard”, even though the National Weather Service (NWS) may have issued outlooks, watches, and warnings well in advance. When people fail to take action from warning for a major storm event, the results can be devastating, both financially and sociologically. Resources (time, manpower, money) spent rescuing someone who failed to heed a warning are also unavailable to be used in prevention for another area affected by the same weather system.

In this presentation, we summarize findings from a survey of people who experienced a major winter storm in California during the period January 4-6, 2008. Our results suggest that local television is the dominant medium for obtaining weather and warning information leading up to and during the storm. We also show that the majority of people are unaware of recent warning campaigns related to driving in hazardous weather, and that people's perceptions of a weather forecast are based to some degree on how much they are personally affected by the storm. Finally, we report on how people interpret a spatial map where they may be under a flash flood advisory, watch, or warning, and we conclude with recommendations for improving weather and warning communication in the future.