Saving lives and protecting property requires that people not only receive accurate weather information in a timely manner, but that they also take protective actions with that information. Effectively addressing societal impacts from hazards like hurricanes, floods, winter storms, tornadoes, and wildfire, requires coupling advances in weather prediction and forecasting with understanding how the American public perceives, responds to, and is impacted by these hazards.
In FY25, the Social Science Program sought competitive proposals focused on three main priorities:
- Community responses to weather: To understand how flows of weather information travel through a community among operational meteorologists, publics, individuals, and organizations.
- Behavioral responses to hazardous weather events: To improve our understanding of how individuals and social groups — such as family units, friend units, and others — cognitively process hazardous weather information, including probabilistic information.
- Data, forecasts, and societal outcomes: To develop an evidence-based understanding of how weather impacts injuries and lives lost, protects property, and enhances the national economy using datasets and data types.
| Project Title | Principal Investigators | Project Description | Hazard Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Human Health Impacts of Hurricanes and Hurricane Forecasts | Renato Molina, University of Miami | Quantify the human health impacts of hurricanes and evaluate how accurate and timely forecasts mitigate these effects by combining high-resolution health and hurricane data with state-of-the-art econometrics. | Tropical Cyclones |
| Advancing Natural-Human System Models to Integrate Hurricane Forecasts, Data, and Impacts | Austin Harris, NSF NCAR Paul Roebber, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee | Use model simulations to test the impact of forecast changes on evacuation success and expand the model’s capacity to ingest different types of forecast information to better understand the link between forecasts and societal outcomes. | Tropical Cyclones |
| Emergency Alert Systems: Exploring the Perspectives and Behavior of Populations with Limited-English Proficiency (LEP) | Mary Angelica Painter, Natural Hazards Center–University of Colorado Boulder | Understand how populations with limited-English proficiency receive, perceive, and respond to emergency information related to extreme weather events. | Relevant to All Hazards |
| Understanding How Businesses Process and Prioritize Hazardous Weather Information to Make Protective Action Decisions for Employees and Patrons | Michelle Saunders, Mississippi State University | Understand how businesses perceive, integrate, and prioritize hazardous weather information and set thresholds when making decisions about protective actions for employees and patrons. | Severe Weather |
| Integrating Mobility Data, Survey Responses, and Forecasting Information to Enhance Understanding of Decision-Making During Hazardous Weather Events in Communities | Liqing Li, Texas A&M University | Examine population mobility in response to hazardous weather information by developing a database of warnings and evacuation orders, collecting survey responses, employing econometric methods, and pairing all of these with cellphone mobility data during extreme events. | Fire Weather, Flooding and Precipitation, Tropical Cyclones |
| Towards a ColdRisk Messaging Framework: Research To Inform the Development and Scalability of an Extreme Cold Decision Support Tool for Washington State | Nicole Errett, University of Washington | Address decision support needs during extreme cold events by identifying intervention points and response strategies, including developing a proof-of-concept ColdRisk tool. This tool integrates local health impacts with population needs and risk reduction strategies. | Extreme Temperatures |
| Virtual Risks and Hero Projects: Activating Transformative Community Actions for Preparedness Against Extreme Weather Events through Extended Reality and Artificial Intelligence | Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, University of Georgia Danny Pimentel, University of Oregon | Leverage immersive technologies and AI to help individuals localize risk experiences, which can better prompt action. Also, co-develop transformative action preparedness plans to increase individual and community resilience. | Tropical Cyclones, Fire Weather |
