Should Severe Weather Graphics Wear a Uniform? Implications of inconsistent visual displays on end user uncertainty, risk perception, and behavioral intentions

With the rise of the Internet and social media platforms, people now have access to more weather information than ever before. Although this allows end users to receive weather information from a variety of sources, the sheer volume of available information likely contributes to a perception that weather risk messages are inconsistent. Members of the weather enterprise share these concerns and believe that these perceived inconsistencies may negatively affect their many audiences. The challenge, however, is that there are only a few studies to-date that have explored message consistency in a weather context. Therefore, in its current state, the weather enterprise lacks empirical evidence that (1) demonstrates that message consistency is a relevant operational concern and (2) provides research-guided recommendations to practitioners and operational meteorologists on how to achieve a more consistent message. To address this operational need, this research project conceptualized ‘message consistency’ for the weather enterprise and employs a social science mixed-methods approach to explore the effects of weather-related graphical inconsistencies on lay public end users. In particular, this project used the Storm Prediction Center’s (SPC) Convective Outlook graphic as a vehicle to investigate the role that visual design plays in keeping a weather-related message consistent.