2014 AMS Annual Meeting

A new paradigm in severe weather watches and warnings is being formulated, developed and evaluated by the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) and the National Weather Service's (NWS) Storm Prediction Center (SPC). Known as FACETs, or Forecasting a Continuum of Environmental Threats, the paradigm seeks to integrate relevant disciplines of social science into every aspect of its development so as to ensure the greatest possible societal value and impact. While extensive research and development have been conducted on the physical sciences side of the “warning system,” the social science research (as it pertains to severe weather warnings) is still in a somewhat nascent stage – but growing in multiple social science disciplines. The panel, representing social and physical science communities, will engage in identifying what past and current social science research findings might be applicable to FACETs (or any new watch/warning paradigm), the degree to which these findings may be applicable, and what gaps still exist between our social science needs and knowledge. A goal of this Town Hall discussion is to facilitate a network of interested researchers and stakeholders in developing a repository of past and current research that can integrate with the development of FACETS; and to begin identifying the needs for new social science research (and the requisite researchers) to fill existing gaps in research foundations for the development of FACETS. This will be a participative discussion involving the panelists and the audience, and will serve as an extension of similar conversations at the 2013 AMS Broadcasters' Conference and Weather Ready Nation Meetings of 2011 and 2012.  This is jointly sponsored by the Ninth Symposium on Policy and Socio-Economic Research and the Second Symposium on Building a Weather-Ready Nation: Enhancing Our Nation’s Readiness, Responsiveness, and Resilience to High Impact Weather Events. 

For additional information, please contact Lans Rothfusz ([email protected]) or Laura Myers ([email protected]).