Enhancing NWS Extratropical Coastal Hazard and Impact Forecast Services for the Tristate Region

Superstorm Sandy produced catastrophic storm surge impacts on the Tri-State region 5 years ago, with tens of billions of dollars of damage to infrastructure and 65 deaths in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut alone. Although NWS water level forecasts were quite accurate for this historic storm, difficulties were faced by meteorologists to effectively communicate the impacts of these forecasts to decision makers, public safety officials, and the public. These difficulties from Sandy will be briefly discussed.

Since Superstorm Sandy, the NWS and its partners have undertaken significant collaborative efforts to improve storm surge observing and modeling, to develop coastal inundation and impact visualization tools, and to improve education and communication of storm surge hazards and impacts.

This presentation will introduce you to some of these NWS efforts in the CT, NY, NJ region of the U.S.; which are markedly improving communication of coastal hazard and impact information through our forecast products and impact-based decision support services. Feedback from local partners will also be discussed.