ExTCS24

This report describes the results of a nationwide survey of Spanish speakers on tropical cyclones in the United States. The Extended 2024 Tropical Cyclone Spanish Survey (Extended TCS24) was designed and administered by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Department of Climate, Meteorology, and Atmospheric Sciences and University of Oklahoma Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (IPPRA). “Extended” surveys have complemented original annual surveys from IPPRA to gain deeper insights into the response and decision-making of Spanish-speaking communities during various extreme weather events (see Trujillo-Falcón et al. 2026 for more information on the 2023 Extended Tornado Survey (Extended WXS23, link)). Extended TCS24 was fielded December 9, 2024 – January 13, 2025, using an online questionnaire that was completed by 638 U.S. adults (age 18+) who self-reported that they speak Spanish at least “well” and were recruited from an Internet panel that matches the characteristics of the U.S. Spanish speaking population as estimated in the U.S. Census. The initial TCS23 Spanish survey (link) established a baseline of how adult Spanish speakers receive, understand, and response to tropical cyclones and weather warnings. Building on these insights, we developed the Extended TC24 survey to focus on issues most relevant to the Spanish speakers in the United States. This tailored survey was designed specifically for Spanish speakers to explore how their experiences in the United States and their countries of origin shape their responses to various kinds of tropical cyclone threats. Additionally, we examined artificial intelligence-generated translations developed by the National Weather Service to assess their effectiveness and establish a baseline for future improvements. This report briefly describes the methodology, survey data collection, data weighting, and a reproduction of the survey instrument with weighted means and frequencies for the questions that elicited numeric responses.