# Presentation: 703995

## NWS Marine and Tropical Customer Satisfaction Survey:  Customer and Partner Feedback Assessment

**Southern Region Marine Workshop**
**Tuesday, March 16, 2004**
**Brian LaMarre**
**Marine Program Manager, NWS Headquarters**

## NWS Customer Satisfaction Survey - Program Areas:

**4 segments measured in 2003:**
***Aviation- 250 respondents**
***Emergency Managers- 479 respondents**
***Media- 529 respondents**
****Marine/Tropical- 6,298 respondents*****	**

## Customer and Partner Feedback Assessment

**A total of 65 questions used to solicit feedback in the survey**
**A total of 8 questions used to capture a verbatim response**

## Customer and Partner Feedback Assessment

**The following verbatim response assessment consists of key recommendations from customers and partners of our Marine and Tropical services.**

**Straight from the...**

**...****mouth!**

## Please specify how you use NWS hurricane and tropical storm watches or warnings:

**Planning, Preparation, Protection**
**Evacuation**
**Alert**
**Recreation**

## Planning, Preparation, Protection

**Vacation and travel plans**
**Vessel routing**
**Timing for home and boat protection**
**Storm proof residences**
**Information to make “stay or go” decisions**
**Information for absentee owners of beach front property- monitor conditions from afar**
**Insurance industry- prepare for problems, claims**

## Evacuation

**Routes and traffic flow**
**Aircraft evacuation**
**Live aboard boaters- when to seek safe harbor**

## Alert

**Monitoring to alert others who live in coastal areas by those who do not**
**Source for broadcast news information**
**Alternative that is “less hysterical” than mass media**
**Source for community emergency response teams**
**Source to post information for boaters/fishermen**
**Activation of warning networks**

## Recreation

**Spot favorable wave and wind conditions for surfing, and other water sports**

## Do you have any suggestions for how the NOAA/NWS can improve their tropical forecast products and services?

**Products**
**Forecasts**
**Wave forecasts**
**Wind**
**QPF**
**Models**
**NHC site**
**Education/Outreach**

## Products

**Explain scientific phenomena for lay people**
**Provide key/legend to explain symbols, abbreviations, and products**
**Use cities and interstates to describe tropical storm watch/warning area, not counties or break points**
**Education/description needed about products provided on website**
**Need a ‘one-stop-shop website’**
**Make all products available in Spanish**

## Forecasts

**Increase forecast cycle out to 7 days**
**Compare projected intensity to historical tropical cyclones (i.e., Cat 5 storm comparable to Hurricane Andrew forecast to hit area X)**
**Create a single graphic combining track, wind radii, intensity, flooding, etc.**
**More accurate track forecasts**

## Wave Forecasts

**Forecast wave heights are consistently inaccurate**
**Include map with wave height contours on NHC site**

## Wind

**Graphical depiction of wind speed**
**Graphical depiction of wind radii**
**Depict wind speeds in miles per hour**

## QPF

**Provide storm rainfall accumulation graphics**
**Links to QPF information, flood guidance**

## Models

**Continue research on long-range track and forecast models**
**Include links to models on NHC site**
**Display various model predicted storm paths so people can have a graphical reference to what forecasters are talking about in discussions**

## NHC site

**Site is inaccessible during hurricanes due to high traffic volume**
**Change color schemes to prevent similar colors being overlaid on top of each other (blue on blue, most frequent complaint)**

## Educational/Outreach

**Educate coastal public on hurricane dangers**
**Provide educational links on website describing various products and tropical cyclone science**

## Do you have any suggestions for how the NOAA/NWS can improve any of the marine and coastal products and services?

**Forecasts**
**Products**
**Dissemination/NOAA Weather Radio**
**Buoys**
**Outreach/Education**

## Forecasts

**Better accuracy needed/more timely updates**
**Update more frequently**
**Break marine zones down into smaller areas, forecast too general**
**Glossary explaining scientific terms and abbreviations used**

## Products

**Consolidate products into a ‘one-stop-shop’ website**
**Provide more real-time data**
**Keep it simple, cut back on scientific jargon in products**

## Dissemination/NOAA Weather Radio

**NOAA Weather Radio needs to have a separate broadcast frequency for marine weather.  Takes too long to receive weather data while at sea**
**Take extended forecasts off NWR broadcast; low priority info wastes valuable broadcast time**
**Better radio coverage, more repeaters needed**
**Can’t understand voice on Weather Radio**

## Buoys

**More buoys needed**
**Having problems accessing data from buoys**

## Outreach/Education

**Provide public training for the interpretation of NWS products**
**Provide educational marine website**

## What changes to forecasts (text, graphical, and/or gridded) would benefit you most?

**Hurricane/Tropical**
**Wave Related**
**Graphical Products**
**Rip Currents**
**Products/General**

## Hurricane/Tropical

**Provide wind speed radii overlays on track maps, include mph in place of knots**
**Increase forecast and product update frequency during tropical storms**
**Increase forecast/discussion frequency as tropical storm approaches land **

## Wave Related

**More accurate wave observations and forecasts**
**Provide swell information in text forecasts**
**Provide links to buoy data**

## Graphical Products

**More localized forecast**
**More frequently updated**
**More graphical products**
**Provide graphical Sea Surface Temperature charts**
**Provide option to zoom in on radar images to enhance detail**

## Rip Currents

**More detailed warnings related to rip current forecasts (i.e., rather than say “Rip current danger is high” give specific instructions on whether or not people should be in the water)**

## Products/General

**Include information explaining technical terms, abbreviations, scientific phenomena **
**Provide conversion tables between metric and English measurements **
**Provide products in local time**
**Make distinct forecasts for separate marine zones, i.e., don’t lump zones**
**Include more physical location descriptors in forecasts and less numerical descriptors; e.g., interstate highways, towns/cities, and well-known landmarks instead of lat/lon or county points**

## Please describe what type of weather information is not available to you:

**Marine**
**Tropical**
**Radar/Satellite**
**Post-Storm Data/archives**
**Dissemination**

## Marine

**Flood danger maps, graphics of where flooding is forecast to occur**
**Sea Surface Temperature maps, Gulf Stream depiction charts**
**24 hour mean sea level pressure variance**
**500 mb charts of offshore waters**
**Wave period forecasts**
**Water levels**
**Real-time wave data**

## Tropical 

**Description of scales (Dvorak, Saffir-Simpson) and abbreviations**
**Explain the impact of forecast winds (i.e., 60 mph can shatter a window; 100 mph can drive a straw of hay into a tree, etc.)**

## Radar/Satellite

**Ability to zoom on images**
**Cloud deck/top heights**
**Doppler radar wind speeds**

## Post-Storm Data/archives

**24-hour precipitation totals**
**Archived Storm Reports**
**Archived graphical data for educational purposes**
**Graphical hurricane archives**

## Dissemination

**Cell phone, wireless warnings**

## Do you have any serious concerns/final comments about the NWS Marine and Coastal, and Tropical services?

**NOAA Agency concerns**
**Dissemination**
**Tropical**
**Outreach/Education**
**Marine**

## NOAA Agency concerns

**Budget cuts will affect service**

## Dissemination

**Text products should **_**not**_** be replaced or eliminated by graphical products**

## Tropical

**Warnings issued under low confidence are threatening public attitude toward validity of watch/warnings; keep false alarms down**
**Keep Hurricane Hunter Reconnaissance flights under control of the Air Force**

## Outreach/Education

**Need more public advertisement of services; most people don’t know what services are available**
**Outreach at local schools to educate kids about opportunities with NOAA/NWS**

## Marine

**Inaccurate wind and wave heights forecasts**
**More lead time needed on hazardous weather**
**Timeliness of products**
**Forecasters need to get out in the open waters and experience the areas for which they forecast**

## How NWS is Using Survey Feedback

**Briefed the results of the Marine and Tropical ACSI at national and regional conferences.**
**Distributed captured feedback and results analysis to NWS managers and field forecasters for use in strategic planning with respect to customer and partner requirements.**

## How NWS is Using Survey Feedback

**Marine and Tropical ACSI feedback supports:**
**Internal goals to provide marine and tropical services in graphical formats**
**A “one-stop-shop” marine website**
**Increased temporal resolution in hurricane track forecasts.**
**Initiatives to implement a marine observational network.**
**Efforts to create discrete marine zones for use in providing more detailed and specific marine forecasts.**

** **** **

**Future of NWS Customer Service**** **

**Customer Satisfaction Surveys planned for 2004:**
**Public Weather**
**Hydrology**
**Climate**
**Observations**

**NWS has created a task team to address its Customer Service Plan using information obtained through surveys and other means to improve NWS products and services in a more customer-friendly fashion.**

## Questions