Making Weather-Ready Nation a Reality

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is engaging the entire Weather Enterprise, other government agencies, academia, industry, and nonprofits toward building a "Weather-Ready Nation". This presentation will provide an update on progress and plans within NOAA toward achieving this goal. Specifically, this presentation will include implications for NWS operations, provide details on science and technology advancements, and include progress on partnerships with other federal agencies.

Weather-Ready Nation is about building community resilience in the face of increasing vulnerability to extreme weather and water events. Communities can withstand extreme events, even thrive, if businesses remain open or recover quickly, if individuals are prepared for and take action when extreme weather is imminent, and if governments facilitate a societal response equal to the level of risk. NOAA recognizes that working with partners who are also dedicated to improving community resilience is not only mutually beneficial, but essential to achieve the goal of a Weather-Ready Nation. To that end, NOAA has started an innovative approach to strengthening its partnerships with the “Weather-Ready Nation Ambassadors” initiative. This initiative builds a "resilience social network,” a community of organizations dedicated to promoting resiliency efforts before, during, and after high impact weather and water events. Science and technology infusion such as dual-polarization radar and increased supercomputer capacity is enabling more accurate analyses and forecasts at longer lead times, improving not only meteorological information but the support services NOAA can provide to community decision-makers.

Although progress has been made, much work remains to be done. Through findings from a series of congressionally-mandated reports, six pilot projects, and engagement with the weather enterprise, NOAA's National Weather Service is embarking on a series of operational changes to implement the Weather-Ready Nation Roadmap and accelerate its contributions to community resilience. All sectors of the Enterprise are needed to make this happen, and we look forward to your discussion during this session.