The 2017 hurricane season brought three category 4 land falling hurricanes to the United States, affecting millions of Americans in Texas, Florida, and across Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. The significant impacts from the wind damage, storm surge, and precipitation, in addition to the disruption to the economy, will not be fully realized for years to come. More importantly, the American Meteorological Society and its members recognize and empathize with the intense heartache and pain suffered by thousands of displaced residents and survivors. AMS will highlight Hurricane's Harvey, Irma and Maria with a Presidential Town Hall Meeting on Monday during its Annual Meeting. Topics to be addressed at the symposium include an overview of the season and it's impacts, the forecasts, communication and response, the extent to which climate change may or may not have contributed, the social costs of these hurricanes, and the plans for recovery and resilience. For additional information, please contact Tanja Fransen (tanja.fransen@noaa.gov).

Even as weather forecasts become more accurate and extend to greater time horizons, the societal impacts of weather hazards—cycles of flood and drought, winter storms and hurricanes, tornadoes, and much more—continue to mount.  Experience shows  that numerous social and behavioral factors  (e.g., how individuals are wired to think, how humans function in groups) can shape how people, communities, and nations prepare for, observe, predict, respond to, and are affected by weather hazards. Moreover, these factors do not remain constant; they can change rapidly in response to ongoing technological, demographic, and cultural changes in society.  These challenges prompted NOAA and DoT/FHWA to request that the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine undertake a study that offers guidance on how the weather enterprise can most effectively support and implement critically-needed social and behavioral science research. The outcomes of that study will be presented and discussed in this Town Hall session.