Warning Received: The Use of Weather Warning Tools in Impact-Based Decision Support Services

Communicating weather warnings and information through the many warning modalities available has created a great opportunity to reach more people in a timely manner with information they can use to mitigate harm and damage in severe weather. Given the numerous modalities now available, there is a need to understand the effectiveness and efficiency of warning dissemination in the IDSS process. This presentation is an overview of the warning modalities used by the NWS and the Weather Enterprise partners, including mobile apps, sirens, NOAA Weather Radio, WEA alerts, community alert notifications, television, phones, on-site meteorologists, and even social media and their functionalities for the IDSS weather warning process. We will discuss the weather information needs of end users in the warning partnership and then match those needs to the use of weather warning modalities in actual weather events and situations. How these modalities function for IDSS providers and IDSS users in actual events reveals the need to use multiple modalities. Each modality functions differently by event and the variety of needs of a given population. Implications for the warning dissemination and IDSS processes will be discussed.