Implementation of the impacts catalog at the Miami Weather Forecast Office

NOAA’s Weather Ready Nation Initiative is to improve the NWSs forecasts, warnings and information for events that threaten lives and livelihood through the implementation of Impact-Based Decision Support Services. Decision-makers use information from the NWS forecasts on a daily basis to make potentially life saving decisions. There is a growing need for more information about the probability or likelihood of a high-impact event in order to make more informed decisions, and to commence communications between forecasters and emergency managers days before a disaster strikes. The Impacts Catalog identifies the thresholds for high-impact weather events, and brings attention to the forecaster of the location where these thresholds are being met. Forecasters then initiate communication with emergency managers and other local officials. This project describes the implementation of the Impacts Catalog at the Miami Weather Forecast Office. It also focuses on the technical aspects of the Impacts Catalog interface, the regional and national development of the Catalog, and feedback from experienced forecasters on the Catalog’s usefulness and effectiveness