Navigating overload and oblivion in weather warning communication - some insights from Norway

At MET Norway, a small interdisciplinary team - the Sandbox - explores novel ways to improve the communication between the meteorologists and their audiences. At the moment the Sandbox consists of seven forecasters, researchers, and communication advisors with backgrounds from both natural and social sciences. Over the past six years, this has been a proven format to address interdisciplinary and cross-departmental challenges. 

In 2022, the Sandbox is focusing on warning communication. Strengthening weather warning communication is high on the agendas of meteorological institutes both in Europe and globally. WMO has dedicated its World Meteorological Day this year to early warning systems that facilitate early actions. Also in Norway, there is a demand for continuous improvement of the formal warning processes for hydrometeorological hazards. Over the last years, several quantitative studies have identified how members of the Norwegian public consume warning information, and how satisfied they are. Insights have guided improvements in the warning process, but have mainly focused on the average perceptions and needs. We are also interested in catering for groups that are potentially on the margins of public warning communication. 

Thus, following our proven ‘Sandbox methodology’ we attempted to map several understudied perceptions, perspectives and information preferences among the Norwegian general public, with specific attention for groups that may have above or below average experience with hazardous weather conditions and their impacts. As a first step, several participants were selected through a convenience sampling approach. These included first responders, tourist guides, and people that relatively recently have moved to Norway, such as international students and migrant workers. In this presentation, we share our preliminary findings, follow-up plans for the rest of 2022, as well as possible measures that may help MET Norway reach out with warning information that is tailored for an increasingly heterogeneous and mobile Norwegian population, with a wide spectrum of weather literacy.