National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
The Young Meteorologist Program
For a
Weather Ready Nation
Ron Gird and Donna Lee
U.S. NOAA National Weather Service
PLAN!T NOW
Satellites and Education Conference XXVII
Madison, WI
August 1, 2014
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The Project Leader
501(C) 3 Non
Profit
Mission Statement
PLAN!T NOW advocates empowerment of people through information
and connection, and creates dialogue between people and organizations
preparing for and dealing with natural and human-made disasters.
Operating with the understanding that no matter where you live, a
natural disaster can happen at any time, PLAN!T NOW advocates the
power of preparedness.
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PLAN!T NOW History
The Grenada Relief Fund was formed to aid people affected by Hurricane Ivan on
the island of Grenada. The Grenada Relief Fund became PLANIT NOW, an
organization that seeks to provide preparedness resources for people living in
hurricane and severe-storm afflicted areas, in 2009.
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YMP Project Team
June 2010: YMP team is formed:
Team leader:
Plan!TNOW
Donna Lee
Team members:
NOAA Education
National Weather Service
American Meteorological Society
Midland Radio Corporation
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Owlie Evolution
1976
NWS
1984
FEMA
35 years
Over 1.5 million
copies distributed
2005
FEMA
Red Cross
2011
FEMA
Red Cross
P!N/YMP
Owlie Transition
Today
Owlie Publication
Tomorrow
Young Meteorologist Program
FREE
Online
Powerpoints-Publications: Old School
Engagement-Online learning: New School
More About the Game
Online Flash-based demo game is accessible at
www.youngmeteorologist.org
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YMP Highlights
Expanding YMP
into your community
Expanding YMP
Games@noaa.gov
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Expanding YMP
Oceans Topics
Red Tide
Rip Current
Ocean Acidification
Ocean Currents
Marine Sanctuaries
Climate Topics
Sea level Rise
Drought
Extreme Weather
Ocean Acidification
Young Meteorologist Program Lesson Module
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- The Online Game Fun
Informative
Challenging
Positively Supportive
Identify with Endearing
Characters
Checks for
Understanding
Each Section Closes with
Challenge to Action
- Application Activities Explore Winter Storm from
Ground & Space
 ABC News Video
 Outline Map for Notes
 Access GOES Imagery
 Analyze/Interpret
Imagery Using ImageJ
 Communicate Results
 Extension Activities
- K-12 Lesson Plan Modules Using Satellites & Remote-Sensing Data
TEACHING NOTES
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.PDF
Standards Addressed
Measurable Objectives
Activity Description
Pedagogy Notes
Background Content
Important Terms
Preparation Steps
Acknowledgements
Extensive Information Sources
Answer Key
STUDENT ACTIVITY
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Adaptable – .PDF and .DOC
Introduction
Preparation Steps, if any
Procedure Sheets
Tutorials
Worksheets
Embedded Math
Application & Extension
Activities
Monthly publication online Satellite Educators Association Newsletter – http://www.SatEd.org
Archived by NOAA-CREST West at Cal State LA – http://web.calstatela.edu/programs/crest
Partnerships Promote Progress
 Plan!T NOW-NWS MOU
 NWS: Weather Forecasting experience
 Plan!T NOW: Marketing excellence
 American Meteorological Society
 NWS: Weather Forecasting experience
 AMS: Science Teacher training
 Supports YMP
 The Weather Channel-NOAA MOU
 NWS: Observations & Severe Weather
Warnings
 TWC: Reaching 100 million homes
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Lessons Learned
Along the Way
Student Participation
Peer to Peer Training
Student Blogs
Teacher Participation
Teacher Guides
To see more, visit:
www.youngmeteorologist.org
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Building a Weather-Ready Nation
It’s All About Partnerships
Government
Emergency
Management
Academia
Private Sector
Broadcast
Media
Social Science
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“Average” Year and Trends in the U.S.
650 Deaths
$15B in Losses
26,000 Severe
Thunderstorms
6 Atlantic
Hurricanes
1,300 Tornadoes
5,000 Floods
Regardless of the cause, the
trend shows an increasing
number of extreme weather
events at increasing cost to
the nation.
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In the past few years…
Magnitude of Disasters Reflects Societal Vulnerability
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Extreme Events Well Forecast
Flood Outlook months
in advance of historical
2011 flooding
Sandy’s “Left Turn” Forecast Path
May 2013 Moore, OK
Tornado ~ 16 minutes
before formation
(36 min. before arriving
in Moore)
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Weather-Ready Nation
Internal
Five Major Focus Areas
 Communications/Outreach
 Impact-based Decision Support Services
 Science & Technology Advances
 Information Delivery
 Innovative Partnerships
External to NOAA
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NOAA’s Response to the Challenge
Build a Weather-Ready Nation
What is a Weather-Ready Nation?
 Society is Prepared for and Effectively Responds to Weather-Dependent
Events
What will it take to build a Weather-Ready Nation?
 NOAA Evolves Operations
 NOAA leads integration of Weather, Water, Climate decision support with help
from social scientists
 NOAA Creates National Movement for Weather-readiness
 National Dialogue with partners: series of symposiums to assess why the nation
is more vulnerable and identify how to improve preparedness
 NWS leads partnered public education initiative to improve societal response to
weather information and warnings
 Moving the initiative forward
 Partnerships
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Empowering the Public
We know:
 People wait for secondary confirmation when they hear a
warning
 People are more likely to take preparedness measures in
advance & action during an event when they observe
others doing so
Our strategy:
 Leverage social media and encourage people to Be a Force
of Nature by taking appropriate preparedness actions and
modeling them for their social network
Recent Tactics:
 Awareness weeks
 Key Partnerships
Weather-Ready Nation
Communications/Outreach
 Vulnerable populations
 Recent successes:
 Weather-Ready Nation webpage
 Greater exposure of campaigns
 “Turn Around…Don’t Drown”
 “When Thunder Roars…Go Indoors”
 “Be a Force of Nature”
 National Severe Weather Preparedness Week
 Brickyard 400 Public Service Announcement
 National Preparedness Month/”PrepareAthon”
 Young Meteorologist Program/Owlie
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Building a Weather-Ready Nation
Ambassadors
Share resilience as high priority
All levels of government, academia, nonprofits
Organizations/businesses
“All Hands on Deck” approach
Open up greater dialog
Innovative approaches for collaboration
How can entire Weather Enterprise work
even better together?
More consistent messaging
More effective communication with public
Rising above the “noise” of daily life
Decision makers must trust information
enough to act on it
Email us: wrn.feedback@noaa.gov
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Weather-Ready Nation
Innovative Partnerships
We need partners’ help in transforming society
to become ready, responsive and resilient to
increasing extreme weather threats.
NOAA will continue to improve outreach, IDSS,
S&T, and dissemination methods.
Building a Weather-Ready Nation requires the
entire Weather Enterprise to work together to
deliver information for better community,
business, and personal decision making.
▪ SOCIETAL RESPONSE EQUAL TO RISK ▪
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Summary
 Opportunities for Collaboration Exist
 Help improve community preparedness and
response
 New Education Tool for Teachers & Students
 Support NWS Weather Ready Nation
Ambassadors Initiative
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Donna Lee
323-774-2880
donnal@planitnow.org
Ron Gird
301-713-0090x154
ron.gird@noaa.gov
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Extra Slides
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Summary
Students can learn about severe weather
science and safety using new innovative,
engaging activities
The NWS Weather Ready Nation Campaign is
open invitation for public participation
including teachers and students completing the
YMP activity
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The Project Leader
501(C) 3 Non
Profit
Mission Statement
PLAN!T NOW advocates empowerment of people through information
and connection, and creates dialogue between people and organizations
preparing for and dealing with natural and human-made disasters.
Operating with the understanding that no matter where you live, a
natural disaster can happen at any time, PLAN!T NOW advocates the
power of preparedness.
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