Effective Messaging of Hurricane Harvey’s Impacts across South Texas

The county warning area for the National Weather Service office in Corpus Christi, Texas has been part of the proverbial US hurricane drought for the past decade. With a few close calls over the the years, the last major Hurricane to affect the Middle Texas Coast was Hurricane Celia back in 1970. That was until Hurricane Harvey developed in the Gulf of Mexico and made landfall along the Middle Texas Coast in late August 2017. With a favorable environment, Harvey rapidly developed from a tropical depression to a major hurricane in less than two days. This rapid intensification presented a huge communication challenge. This presentation will analyze the evolution and effectiveness of NWS Corpus Christi’s messaging of Harvey’s impacts to the public and core partners. The lessons learned from Harvey are expected to better enhance messaging of tropical cyclone impacts in the future.