The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) National Weather Service (NWS) is conducting a survey to gauge how decision-makers, such as public health officials, use NWS watches, warnings and advisories. Your feedback will play an important role in decisions on how to improve NWS hazard messages.

This survey is part of the NWS Hazard Simplification Project, which analyzes the use and effectiveness of NWS watches, warnings and advisories, and evaluates possible alternatives to NWS’s terminology. The survey will assess the extent to which organizations (at all levels and in various sectors) have formally incorporated watches, warnings and advisories into their decision-making processes via policies, protocols, laws, etc. For instance, are there public health agencies with a written policy that says if a Hurricane Watch is issued, then XYZ needs to happen?

Survey answers will help the NWS understand the potential policy impact on key partners if it significantly changes watches, warnings or advisories by altering the meaning or name of a particular watch, warning or advisory.

This deadline to complete the survey is October 31, 2016. To take the survey, please visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/62DX6TC. It should take 10-15 minutes to complete.

If you have any questions or comments, please email [email protected]. For more information about the overall Hazard Simplification Project, please visit http://www.weather.gov/hazardsimplification.