Communicating Geographic Information in Severe Weather Warnings

Communicating Geographic Information in Severe Weather Warnings Matt Taraldsen^{1, 2}, Dale Morris^{1, 2}, Greg Schoor² 1. University of Oklahoma/Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorology 2. NOAA/NWS/Warning Decision Training Division

Behind the goal of the National Weather Service's (NWS) Weather-Ready Nation (WRN) effort, are the people, places, and features that are affected and impacted by weather. While the science of meteorology continues to move forward with research for better understanding of the atmosphere, an emphasis must be placed on the understanding of features that cover the Earth's surface. Newer GIS-based tools like the suite of Gibson-Ridge applications and AWIPS 2 GIS capabilities now allow meteorologists to see a multitude of geographic data on the same platform as meteorological data. In an operational sense, meteorology and geography are inseparable, especially as societal impacts from weather grow in importance and the role of communications and IDSS in warning considerations increases. This talk will examine how geographic information is currently shared in NWS warnings and explore research into how this information can be more efficiently shared to end users.