Co-Creating the Form and Function of the Prototype Probabilistic Hazard Information (PHI) to Meet Emergency Manager User Needs

Emergency managers have been included in early stages of development of the Prototype Probabilistic Hazard Information (PHI) in order to help co-create its optimal form and function for NWS decision support services. Two phases of this long-term project have been completed. In the first phase, emergency managers east of the Rocky Mountains were interviewed using the Critical Incident Technique in order to understand their typical uses of, and sensitivity to severe weather information. In the second phase, emergency managers from the same regions were invited to the Hazardous Weather Testbed in Norman, Oklahoma, to view experimental probabilistic hazard information during three real time and two displaced real time events during each of three experiment weeks. Research protocols were used to systematically study how emergency managers interpreted and used PHI information to make decisions. Researchers also guided NWS forecasters and emergency manager participants through group debriefs after each event. Through these and other elements of the project NWS forecasters and emergency managers co-created a consistent vision for PHI during each experiment week. This work is being conducted within the larger context of Forecasting a Continuum of Environmental Threats (FACETs).