From colstonl at gmail.com Wed May 20 21:10:23 2020 From: colstonl at gmail.com (Lloyd Colston) Date: Wed, 20 May 2020 20:10:23 -0500 Subject: [Skywarn] Announcing partner webinars in June and July 2020, on proposed major changes to the NWS Watch, Warning and Advisory (WWA) system Message-ID: Over the past 6 years, the NWS Hazard Simplification (Haz Simp) Project has use a series of social science engagements with forecasters, core partners, and other stakeholders to explore possible improvements to the NWS Watch, Warning and Advisory (WWA) system. This research found users believe there are too many WWA products, message formats are inconsistent, and WWA headlines can be confusing. In particular, the "Advisory" headline was found to be widely misunderstood and even conflated with "Watch". Based on these results, the Haz Simp Team has developed a proposal to streamline and simplify the WWA system. A 1-page handout summarizing the proposed changes is available for download here: https://www.weather.gov/media/notification/ref/Hazard_Simplification_Proposal.pdf All NWS partners and stakeholders (including but not limited to emergency managers, media and other private sector partners, first responders, DOT personnel, water managers, and other federal, state, and local government and tribal officials) are invited to attend a Partner Webinar to learn about the proposed changes and offer feedback. There are 5 interactive webinars to choose from, each of which will cover the same material: 2 PM EDT Wednesday, June 3rd, 2020 https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7470303407718075147 12 PM EDT Thursday, June 4th, 2020 https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5763166470061493517 1 PM EDT Wednesday, June 17th, 2020 https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8322712991291493901 11 AM EDT Thursday, July 9th, 2020 https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4963693973319545869 12 PM EDT Thursday, July 23rd, 2020 https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2408615867344992013 The proposed changes have not been finalized. Our decision will be heavily based on user feedback, which makes wide participation in these webinars so important. While these webinars are for NWS partners, NWS will also solicit comments/feedback from the general public regarding this proposal. More information on this process will be released via a separate Public Information Statement in the coming weeks. For more information on the Haz Simp Project, please visit www.weather.gov/hazardsimplification/. Questions, concerns, and other feedback are encouraged, and should be sent to: hazsimp at noaa.gov -- Lloyd Colston KC5FM