NOAA's Weather-Ready Nation: Progress and Plans

Abstract:

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Weather-Ready Nation program is about building community resilience in the face of increasing vulnerability to extreme weather and water events. Through community partnerships and infusion of new science and technology, better preparedness is reducing the devastating impacts of these extreme events. For the past three years, the National Weather Service has been leading the Weather-Ready Nation strategy through a number of initiatives, focused around a series of pilot projects for transforming internal National Weather Service Operations. The "Emergency Response Specialist" technical role and associated training has been developed to better apply new hazardous weather research and technology to critical community decisions. High-resolution storm surge inundation mapping was introduced to the public in 2014 during Hurricane Arthur with successful results. The dual-polarization upgrade to the Nation's weather radar network has also been completed, with successful application of improved tornado, flash flood, and winter storm warning services. This presentation will focus on the application of these science initiatives under the NOAA Weather-Ready Nation program, and will further discuss NWS plans for operational application of future advances in research and technology.