[Skywarn] Announcing partner webinars in June and July 2020, on proposed major changes to the NWS Watch, Warning and Advisory (WWA) system

[Lloyd Colston]

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