Educating Students about Hurricane Hazards and Preparedness

Educating users and partners about hurricane preparedness represents a large portion of the off-season activities of the National Hurricane Center (NHC). This educational program has traditionally targeted emergency managers, the media, and meteorologists. In 2012, the partnership of NHC, the University of Rhode Island (URI), and NOAA's Aircraft Operations Center (AOC) created a concept to help expand the educational outreach to students. The NHC designed interactive virtual presentations focusing on hurricane hazards and the physical processes of these tropical systems. The AOC created a presentation illustrating how Hurricane Hunters fly into hurricanes and how the instrumentation on the aircraft function. The URI hosted the webinars and recruited schools along the Gulf and east coasts of the United States to participate in one of three regional webinars: Gulf coast region, Southeast U.S., and mid-Atlantic and Northeast U.S. Over the past 4 years, 12 webinars have been conducted, which have reached approximately 27,000 students. This presentation will highlight some of the content, feedback, and future plans of these educational webinars.