NC-FIRST: Weather Information and Training for North Carolina Emergency Managers Jessica Proud Meteorologist Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI) Chapel Hill, NC

Overview What is RENCI? What is NC-FIRST? Need for NC-FIRST NC-FIRST components –Training –Web portal Current users Future of NC-FIRST

What is RENCI? RENCI: Renaissance Computing Institute State organization with locations around NC, part of UNC system Goal: apply technology to solve problems in NC –Focus area: disaster studies/emergency management –Data sharing, communications, real-time obs –Do exploratory, proof of concept applications

What is NC-FIRST? Two components –Weather information program –Classroom training on weather data –Weather data portal Developed for NC EMs Working with partners at NWS and State Climate Office First class: June 2007

Why NC-FIRST? Help EMs in decision making process by making weather info more available, intuitive Talked to a sampling of EMs –Difficult going to multiple weather pages and searching for data Modeled after OK- FIRST

OK-FIRST Educational outreach program at OCS –Change the way participants make decisions and their behavior – for the better (James et al., 2001) May 3, 1999 –Smaller number of casualties than would be expected “What is going on?” vs. targeted questions about data signatures (Morris et al., 2001)

NC-FIRST: Classroom Training Classroom training –Meteorologists teach EMs how to interpret weather data –Participants follow instructor with laptops –Classes Tropical weather T-storms/tornadoes Winter weather Flooding Drought Fire Weather

NC-FIRST: Weather Data Portal Weather Data Portal –Accumulates weather data in one place –Tailored to EM’s county –Divided by disaster type –Updates in real-time –Links directly to NOAA products –Once participant takes class, granted password access to page NC-FIRST Weather Information Portal front page

NC-FIRST Front Page 1.Data tailored to EM’s county 2.Expandable menus by data type 3.Real-time looping radar data for North Carolina 4.Data from any county in NC available 5.Page is divided by weather disaster type

Training Examples Basic meteorology –Thermal profiles Products –Wind barbs –NWS Graphical Forecasts –Probabilistic winds

Current Users 185 users trained 55/100 counties User stats –Daily users –Others log in as event approaches More trainings scheduled

Future of NC-FIRST Very positive and enthusiastic response from users –This program is needed Targeted to become part of State EM certification program in 2009 –Course design by partners at NWS, State Climate Office, universities, NCEM –More robust than current trainings

Summary NC-FIRST: weather information program for NC emergency managers Two components –Classroom training –Weather information portal Positive feedback from users –Will become part of state certification program

Morris, D.A., K.C. Crawford, K. A. Kloesel, and J. M. Wolfinbarger, 2001: OK-FIRST: A meteorological information system for public safety. Bull Amer. Meteor. Soc., 82, 1911–1923. James, T. E., P. O. Long, and M. A. Shafer, 2000: An independent evaluation of the OK-FIRST decision-support system. Preprints, Second Symp. on Environmental Applications, Long Beach, CA, Amer. Meteor. Soc., Jessica Proud