CEHC Researchers Partner with National Weather Service to Improve Extreme Heat Communication

ALBANY, N.Y. (Oct. 27, 2023) — While flooding, tornadoes and hurricanes often dominate headlines when it comes to deadly weather, heat-related events claim more lives in the United States than any other type of extreme weather.

From 2004–2018, an average of 702 heat-related deaths occurred in the United States annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s more than the average from hurricanes and tornadoes combined.

A new study, led by researchers at the University at Albany’s College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity (CEHC), in partnership with collaborators at the National Weather Service, is aiming to improve those statistics through a critical aspect of extreme weather resiliency — risk communication.

The two-year study will focus on how current heat information is accessed and understood by people in the U.S. through $471,805 in support from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“The way that extreme heat events are communicated has implications for how members of the public take action to protect themselves,” said Michele “Micki” Olson, a senior researcher at CEHC’s Emergency and Risk Communication Message Testing Lab and the project’s lead principal investigator.

“Our study will provide a baseline assessment of current heat risk and preparedness messaging, including how it is understood by vulnerable populations.”

A National Review of Heat Messaging

To conduct their assessment, project researchers will lead 16 focus groups in areas across the U.S. that represent different climatologies and population types. 

Focus group participants will first view the content of recent social media posts shared by their local National Weather Service Forecast Office (WFO) during recent extreme heat events. They will then be invited to share their thoughts about the heat risk, impacts and actions they can take to protect themselves based on that information.

“In our prior work, we found that there’s a lot of technical language — or jargon — used to describe heat risk and its impact on vulnerable populations,” said Jeannette Sutton, an associate professor who directs CEHC’s Emergency and Risk Communication Message Testing Lab and is the project’s co-principal investigator. 

“Our focus groups will be looking at text as well as images in each message because these communicate different things. In particular, we want to know what terms may be confusing and why. We will then ask participants about their prior experiences with extreme heat and how they obtain heat-related information.”

Following the focus groups, the researchers will send out a national survey, allowing them to gather additional data and compare how people think about extreme heat in different parts of the country.

Their findings will be shared through presentations at the American Meteorological Society and the National Weather Service, as well as in published articles.

“Using both methods — the focus groups and a national survey — will provide us with a more complete picture of how people understand heat-related information,” Olson said. “By communicating directly with the National Weather Service, and other emergency managers, we can provide immediate actionable recommendations that can be implemented for heat risk and preparedness messaging.”

Extreme Weather Communication

Along with this study, researchers at UAlbany, including Sutton and Olson, are currently leading several other projects that are focused on improving the preparedness and response to extreme weather events in the U.S.  

Earlier this year, Erie County turned to researchers at UAlbany and the National Weather Service to help ensure Western New Yorkers are better prepared for future winter storms. Among the project’s goals is to assess communication around last year’s Christmas blizzard, which brought nearly 52 inches of snow to the Buffalo area over five days.

Another ongoing project, which includes a mix of UAlbany weather, climate and emergency preparedness researchers, is focused on creating new support tools for New York City emergency managers to use during extreme heat waves.

“Much of our previous work is relevant to this newly funded project,” Sutton said. “Being able to understand messaging is one of the first steps to taking protective action. People cannot act on warning if they do not understand the information it contains.”

The latest project will also fund a UAlbany graduate student researcher with an interest in the intersection of weather and risk communication.