What’s it like to make high pressure warning decisions?
When the National Weather Service issues a tornado warning, people in homes and business may have only minutes to seek shelter. But what goes on behind the scenes during these life-and-death decisions? Now participants can find out for themselves in a simulated severe weather forecast scenario.
WeatherFest participants test their skills at issuing severe weather warnings. (Image credit: Lans Rothfusz, National Severe Storms Laboratory)
HotSeat is a science-based, personal computer simulator that gives the general public, educators, and students an appreciation of the meteorology of severe weather events and the decision-making processes that go into warnings at NOAA’s National Weather Service offices. The software was originally developed at the Weather Forecast Office in Peachtree City, Georgia, with continued development at NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory. HotSeat uses archived Weather Surveillance Radar (WSR88D) data, severe weather reports, and pictures of damage caused by actual storms in a displaced, real-time mode to capture the experience of issuing severe weather warnings in the National Weather Service. Upon completion of each event, the participant receives a score indicating his or her success in the simulation. Each simulation runs approximately 20 minutes.
The HotSeat simulator was first shared in 2006 at an American Meteorology Society WeatherFest in Atlanta, Georgia, and has been showcased at numerous other events across the United States. The National Severe Storms Laboratory made the program available online in 2017; since then, more than 1,800 visitors have tried it out. The use of the simulator in classroom settings can complement teachers’ weather units in science and may inspire future scientists. HotSeat can also be used to train emergency managers and other key officials. The National Weather Service hopes that HotSeat participants will become better users of severe weather warnings when they understand the process behind the forecast. Feedback from participants has been overwhelmingly positive. Many cannot believe how stressful the decision-making process is and how much information is presented in such a short period of time. All information has to be processed rapidly to make life-saving decisions!
This story was originally published as part of the 2017 NOAA Education Accomplishments Report.
