Examining the Role of Emergency Managers as Conduits of Weather Information Journal of Operational Meteorology

Emergency managers (EMs) serve as critical conduits of weather information, providing forecasts and information from the National Weather Service (NWS) and other sources to support decision-making and public safety efforts. This study investigates the role EMs in the United States play in gathering and disseminating weather forecast information before hazardous weather events. Using data from a nationwide survey of EMs, this paper examines EMs’ information-sharing practices, their preferred sources, and the communication channels they use. Although EMs almost universally rely on local NWS Weather Forecast Offices, they also access information from a wide array of other sources via several different communication channels to access this information. When disseminating forecast information, the preferred communication methods of EMs vary between internal partners (e.g., first responders and jurisdictional leadership) and the public. Notably, social media emerges as the primary tool for public dissemination, while email dominates internal communications. Furthermore, most EMs report minimal modification of the forecast information they receive before passing it along. This study highlights the integral role EMs play in the weather information ecosystem, providing meteorologists who are serving as originators of forecasts with a deeper understanding of how one of their core partners is acting to share and amplify messages across their jurisdiction.