NATIONAL WINDSTORM 

IMPACT REDUCTION PROGRAM

BIENNIAL PROGRESS REPORT TO CONGRESS

FOR FISCAL YEARS 2017 AND 2018
2

Disclaimer 1: Certain trade names or company products are mentioned in the text to specify experimental 

procedure and equipment used. In no case does such identification imply recommendation or endorsement 

by any of the agencies represented on the Interagency Coordinating Committee, nor does it imply that the 

equipment is the best available for the purpose.

Disclaimer 2: In this document, we have provided link(s) to website(s) that may have information of 

interest to our users. The Interagency Coordinating Committee agencies do not endorse the views 

expressed or the facts presented on these sites. Further, Interagency Coordinating Committee agencies do 

not endorse any commercial products that may be advertised or available on these sites.
3

This progress report for the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program (NWIRP) is 

submitted to Congress by the Interagency Coordinating Committee of NWIRP, as required by 

the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Act of 2004 (Public Law 108-360, Title II), as 

amended by the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Act Reauthorization of 2015 (Public Law 

114-52). 

Interagency Coordinating Committee

Dr. Walter G. Copan - Chair 

Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and Director 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

U.S. Department of Commerce 

Dr. France Córdova

Director 

National Science Foundation 

Dr. Kelvin Droegemeier

Director

Office of Science and Technology Policy

Executive Office of the President

Mr. Pete Gaynor

Administrator

Federal Emergency Management Agency 

U.S. Department of Homeland Security 

Dr. Neil Jacobs

Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Environmental Observation and Prediction, performing the duties of 

Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere

Mr. Mick Mulvaney

Director 

Office of Management and Budget 

Executive Office of the President
4

NWIRP Windstorm Working Group1

Staff

Scott Weaver

Director

National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

Marc Levitan

Lead Research Engineer

National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program

National Institute of Standards and Technology

 Steve Potts

 Program Analyst

 National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program

 National Institute of Standards and Technology

Members

Jason Averill

Harold Bosch

Dana Bres

National Institute of Standards and Technology

Federal Highway Administration

Department of Housing and Urban Development

DaNa Carlis

Sheila Duwadi

Alan Gerard

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Federal Highway Administration

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

Sharon Jasim-Hanif Department of Energy

Edward Laatsch Federal Emergency Management Agency

Chungu Lu National Science Foundation

Jacqueline Meszaros Office of Science and Technology Policy 

Shirley Murillo National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Robert O’Connor National Science Foundation

Joy Pauschke National Science Foundation

Long Phan

Lori Schultz 

Pataya Scott

Adam Smith 

Michael Uhart

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Federal Emergency Management Agency

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Ty Wamsley U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Jonathan Westcott Federal Emergency Management Agency

 

1 Windstorm Working Group members are agency representatives serving during the reporting period.
5

Table of Contents

1. Background.............................................................................................................................................. 7

1.1 Structure of the Progress Report ...............................................................................7

2. Windstorms and Their Impacts in 2017 and 2018................................................................8

2.1 2017 ................................................................................................................8

2.2 2018.................................................................................................................9

3. Program Leadership, Management and Coordination..........................................................12

3.1 Interagency Coordinating Committee ........................................................................12

3.2 Windstorm Working Group..................... ...............................................................12

3.3 Strategic Plan ...................................................................................................12

3.4 Coordinated Budget............................................................................................14

3.5 National Advisory Committee on Windstorm Impact Reduction........................................14

3.6 NIST Lead Agency Management and Coordination Activities...........................................14

4. Progress in Fiscal Years 2017 and 2018 ................................................................................................. 16

4.1 Strategic Priorities...............................................................................................17

SP-1: Develop Baseline Estimates of Loss of Life and Property Due to Windstorms......................17

SP-2: Obtain Measurements of Surface Winds & Storm Surge Current & Waves in Severe Storms....17

SP-3: Develop Publicly Available Databases of Windstorm Hazards and Impacts....................... 18

SP-4: Develop Performance-Based Design for Windstorm Hazards...........................................19

SP-5: Improve Windstorm Resistance of Existing Buildings and Other Structures........................19

SP-6: Enhance Outreach and Partnerships to Improve Windstorm Preparedness and Hazard 

Mitigation.............................................................................................................19

SP-7: Enhance and Promote Effective Storm Sheltering Strategies ..........................................21

SP-8: Develop the Nation’s Human Resource Base in Windstorm Hazard Mitigation Fields .............22

4.2 Objectives ......................................................................................................................................... 23

Objective 1: Advance understanding of windstorms and associated hazards................................23

Objective 2: Develop tools to improve windstorm data collection and analysis...........................24

Objective 3: Understand long term trends in windstorm frequency, intensity and location ..............26

Objective 4: Develop tools to improve windstorm hazard assessment.......................................26

Objective 5: Advance understanding of windstorm effects on the built environment.......................26

Objective 6: Develop computational tools for use in wind and flood modeling on buildings and 

infrastructure..........................................................................................................31

Objective 7: Improve understanding of economic and social factors influencing windstorm risk 

reduction measures...................................................................................................33
6

Objective 8: Develop tools to improve post-storm impact data collection, analysis and archival........35

Objective 9: Develop advanced risk assessment and loss estimation tools..................................36

Objective 10: Develop tools to improve the performance of buildings and other structures in 

windstorms............................................................................................................37

Objective 11: Support the development of windstorm-resilient standards and building codes...........37

Objective 12: Promote the implementation of windstorm-resilient measures...............................38

Objective 13: Improve windstorm forecast accuracy and warning time.....................................39

Objective 14: Improve storm readiness, emergency communications and response ........................42

5. The Path Forward ................................................................................................................................... 43

Appendix A: Acronyms ............................................................................................................................. 45

Appendix B: NWIRP Statutory Agency Responsibilities .......................................................................... 47

Appendix C: NWIRP Coordinated Budget ............................................................................................... 49
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1. Background 

Windstorms are the largest loss-producing natural hazards in the United States, with hurricanes and 

tornadoes comprising a majority of losses related to life and property. According to the National Oceanic 

and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), between 1980-2018, windstorms caused over $1 trillion in 

economic losses and over 8,000 fatalities.

2 In recognition of the increasing economic costs and loss of 

life, Congress established a coordinated federal agency effort in 2004 – the National Windstorm Impact 

Reduction Program3 (NWIRP or Program) – to accomplish significant reductions in windstorm-related 

losses of life and property. Improved windstorm impact reduction measures require an interdisciplinary 

approach based on atmospheric-related research to better understand the behavior and impact of 

windstorms on the built environment, engineering research on improving new structures and retrofitting 

existing ones to better withstand windstorms, and social sciences research to understand economic and 

social factors influencing windstorm risk reduction measures. This approach has the potential to reduce 

these losses through: improved data collection and analysis and impact prediction methodologies; costeffective and affordable design and construction methods and practices; effective mitigation programs at 

the local, state, and national level; and public education and outreach.

Detailed history and NWIRP activities from fiscal years 2005 through 2016 have been documented in a 

series of biennial reports to Congress.

4 During fiscal years 2017-18, NWIRP carried out its statutory 

requirement to convene a Federal Advisory Committee5 and develop a strategic plan for the interagency 

program.

6

Structure of the Progress Report 

A brief overview of the NWIRP Program is presented in Section 1. Section 2 of the report provides a 

short description of windstorms occurring during calendar years 2017 and 20187 and the resulting loss of 

life and property. Section 3 describes Program leadership and coordination, including development of the 

NWIRP Strategic Plan (Plan). Section 4 summarizes the major research, development, and 

implementation activities conducted by the Program agencies (the National Institute of Standards and 

Technology (NIST), National Science Foundation (NSF), NOAA, and Federal Emergency Management 

Agency (FEMA)), including collaborative activities with academia and the private sector. These 

activities are mapped to the Strategic Priorities and Objectives of the NWIRP Strategic Plan. Consistent

with previous NWIRP reports to Congress, the descriptions in section 4 focus on activities that have taken 

place during the past biennial period, in this case fiscal years 2017-18 (also referred to in this document as 

the “reporting period”). Longer term projects may also include brief descriptions of prior years’ 

2 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Centers for Environmental Information. (2019). Billion-dollar 

weather and climate disasters: Table of events. Retrieved from https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/billions/events/US/1980-2017 3 42 U.S.C. §15703(a).

4 National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program Biennial Reports to Congress. https://www.nist.gov/el/mssd/nwirp/biennialreports-congress 5 42 U.S.C. §15704. National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program Office. National Advisory Committee on Windstorm 

Impact Reduction. https://www.nist.gov/el/materials-and-structural-systems-division-73100/national-windstorm-impactreduction-program-1 6 42 U.S.C. §15703(e)(5). National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program Interagency Coordinating Committee. (2018). 

Strategic Plan for National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program. Retrived from https://www.nist.gov/el/materials-andstructural-systems-division-73100/national-windstorm-impact-reduction-program-0 7 The summary of storm activities is provided for calendar years 2017 and 2018, rather than the fiscal years referred to elsewhere 

in this report, consistent with how storm and loss data are typically made available.
8

activities, to provide context. Section 5 provides a brief description of potential activities to implement 

the Plan.

2. Windstorms and Their Impacts in 2017 and 2018

Windstorm-related disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and other forms of severe weather are the most 

destructive natural hazards in the U.S., causing significant loss of life and property each year. The years 

2017 and 2018 were unprecedented in this regard.

2.1. 2017

The 2017 Atlantic hurricane season was one of the most deadly and destructive hurricane seasons on 

record. There were 17 named storms, 10 of which became hurricanes. Six of the storms attained major 

hurricane status (category 3 or greater), with three category 4 hurricane landfalls in the U.S. (Figure 1). 

In August, Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Rockport, Texas, with 58 m/s (130 mph) maximum 

sustained winds, and nearly stalled, which led to portions of the greater Houston area receiving 

approximately 1.52 m (60 inches) of rainfall, marking the single-storm rainfall total on record for the 

continental United States.

8 In early September, Hurricane Irma made landfall in Cudjoe Key, Florida, 

with maximum sustained winds of 58 m/s (130 mph). Irma made a second landfall on the western tip of 

the Florida Peninsula and progressed northward, impacting much of the state. On September 20th

Hurricane Maria devastated the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico causing catastrophic damage to the built 

environment and an estimated 2,975 deaths.9

There were 1,522 tornadoes in 2017, which is 120 tornadoes more than the 2005-2015 average, according 

to the Storm Prediction Center.10 Tornadoes claimed 35 lives and caused 516 injuries.

11 Locations of 

these tornadoes are mapped in Figure 2. Thunderstorms and other high-wind events claimed 50 lives and 

caused 213 injuries.12 In total, windstorms that struck the United States in calendar year 2017 claimed 

over three thousand lives and injured thousands of people.13

8 National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, National Hurricane Center. (2018). Tropical Cyclone Report –

Hurricane Harvey (NHC Publication AL092017). Retrieved from https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL092017_Harvey.pdf 9 The George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. (August 28, 2018). Ascertainment of the 

Estimated Excess Mortality from Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. Retrieved from 

https://publichealth.gwu.edu/sites/default/files/downloads/projects/PRstudy/Acertainment%20of%20the%20Estimated%20Exces

s%20Mortality%20from%20Hurricane%20Maria%20in%20Puerto%20Rico.pdf (Report commissioned by Puerto Rico 

Governor, Ricardo Rosselló). 10 National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. (2017). Annual Trends in Local Storm Reports-Tornadoes.

Retrieved from http://www.spc.noaa.gov/wcm/2017/torngraph-big.png 11 National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, National Weather Service. (2017). Summary of Natural Hazard 

Statistics for 2017 in the United States. Retrieved from http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/hazstats/sum17.pdf 12 Ibid. 13 Estimated using information from the National Weather Service Summary of Natural Hazard Statistics for 2017 and National 

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Centers for Environmental Information. Retrieved from 

https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/billions/events/US/2017-2018
9

Figure 1. Atlantic Tropical Cyclones Occurring in 2017. Source: U.S Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) 4th

National Climate Assessment.

Figure 2. Tornadoes Occurring in 2017. Source: National Centers for Environmental Information, 

https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/tornadoes/201713.

2.2. 2018

While the 2018 season had less overall activity than the record-breaking 2017 hurricane season, the 

damage was still catastrophic. The 2018 Atlantic hurricane season had 15 named storms, 8 of which 

became hurricanes, with two of those attaining major hurricane status (category 3 or greater). In 2018, 

Hurricanes Florence, Michael, and Yutu (Pacific) impacted the United States. Hurricane Florence made 

landfall on September 14, 2018, along the North Carolina coast. Despite making landfall as a category 1 
10

hurricane with 40.2 m/s (90 mph) maximum sustained winds, Hurricane Florence produced up to 0.76m 

(30 inches) of rainfall over portions of North and South Carolina due to the storm’s slow forward speed 

after landfall, similar to that of Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Hurricane Michael made landfall as a category 

5 storm on October 10th with maximum sustained winds of 71.5 m/s (160 mph). Hurricane Michael 

caused catastrophic impacts along the panhandle of Florida, including the complete destruction of homes 

and businesses in Mexico Beach, Florida, and significant damage to Tyndall Air Force base. The 

estimated surface 3-second gust wind speeds from Hurricane Michael is 171 mph derived from 1-minute

sustained wind speed of 161 mph.14 This exceeded the most recent design standards for residential and 

commercial buildings in the Florida Panhandle (i.e., 144 mph for Risk Category IV).

15 Hurricane Yutu 

made landfall in the Northern Mariana Island U.S. territories of Saipan and Tinian on October 25, 2018,

with satellite estimated winds of 80 m/s (180 mph) causing significant damage.

In 2018, there were 1,169 tornadoes and 13,206 reported wind events.16 Figure 3 shows the locations 

where wind damage was reported from severe weather. In total, windstorms that struck the United States 

in calendar year 2018 claimed over 200 lives and injured 441 people.17 

Figure 3. Wind Damage Reports Occurring in 2018. Excludes damage from tropical cyclones. Source: NOAA/Storm 

Prediction Center

14 Benev, J., Ber, R., and Hagan, A. (2019). Tropical Cyclone Report: Hurricane Michael. National Oceanographic and 

Atmospheric Administration, National Hurricane Center.

15 American Soceity of Civil Engineers (ASCE). (2016). Minimum design loads for buildings and other structures (ASCE/SEI 

7-16), ASCE Standard ASCE/SEI 7-16, American Society of Civil Engineers, Reston, VA. 16 National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, Storm Prediction Center. (2018). Annual Severe Weather Report 

Summary. http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/online/monthly/2018_annual_summary.html# 17 National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, National Weather Service. (2017). Summary of Natural Hazard 

Statistics for 2016 in the United States. Retrieved from http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/hazstats/sum16.pdf
11

Billion-dollar weather disasters are on the rise in the U.S. with severe weather and hurricanes comprising 

the majority of the increasing trend in economic losses from 1980-2017 (Figure 4). In addition to 

thousands of smaller windstorms over the course of the two-year period from 2017 to 2018, there were 16

severe storm events and five tropical cyclone events (Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria, Florence, and 

Michael) with losses exceeding $1 billion (CPI-adjusted) each across the United States. Figure 5 shows 

the states impacted by these billion-plus dollar disasters.

Figure 4. Number of tropical cyclone (yellow) and severe storm (green) events from 1980-2017 exceeding one billion USD. 

The annual cost is in gray and its 5-year running mean in black. Source: NOAA.

Figure 5. Severe Storm and Tropical Cyclone Disasters, by State, in 2017- (CPI adjusted). Note: the map reflects a 

summation of billion-dollar events for each state affected (i.e., it does not mean that each state shown suffered at least $1 billion 

in losses for each event. For example, two states could have each suffered a $500 million loss and it would still be counted as a 

billion-dollar event for each state). Source: NOAA.18

18 National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, National Centers for Environmental Information. (2018). U.S.

Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters. Retrieved from https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/billions/
12

3. Program Leadership, Management and Coordination

3.1. Interagency Coordinating Committee 

NIST supports and organizes meetings of the NWIRP Interagency Coordinating Committee (ICC), which 

oversees the planning and coordination of the Program. The ICC consists of the heads or designees of 

FEMA, NOAA, NSF, Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), and the Office of Management 

and Budget (OMB), and is chaired by the NIST Director or designee.19 The ICC is charged with 

coordinating implementation of the Strategic Plan, developing annual coordinated budgets, and reporting 

to Congress on NWIRP Progress.

20 During this reporting period, the ICC approved the release of the 

Strategic Plan. 

3.2. Windstorm Working Group

NIST leads a working group of federal employees, the Windstorm Working Group (WWG),

21 which met 

regularly throughout fiscal years 2017-18 to finalize the NWIRP Strategic Plan and coordinate Program 

research and activities as described in this report. The WWG also developed the Biennial Report to 

Congress for fiscal years 2015-16. Membership in the WWG consists of representatives from the 

NWIRP Program agencies, the Department of Energy (DOE), the Federal Highway Administration 

(FHWA), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the National Aeronautics and 

Space Administration (NASA), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), and a liaison member from 

OSTP.

22

3.3. Strategic Plan

NIST led the development of the NWIRP Strategic Plan (or Plan). NIST received significant input from 

the Program agencies and the WWG following review and assessment of national research needs and 

planning documents. NIST also incorporated input from the stakeholder community, through the NWIRP 

Strategic Planning Stakeholder Workshop held in June of 2016. Additionally, to obtain feedback on the 

Plan from a wider cross-section of the windstorm impact reduction community, a draft for public 

comment was released for a 60-day comment period on March 14, 2017.

23 The National Advisory 

Committee for Windstorm Impact Reduction (NACWIR) provided valuable insight and

recommendations. The NWIRP agencies considered all the public comments and NACWIR 

recommendations in developing the final version of the Plan, and it was released in August of 2018.24 

The Plan establishes three overarching, long-term Strategic Goals: 1) Improve the understanding of 

windstorm processes and hazards; 2) Improve the understanding of windstorm impacts on communities;

and 3) Improve the windstorm resilience of communities nationwide. There are 14 objectives

underpinning the goals, broadly outlining the range of activities needed to achieve major reductions in the 

19 42 U.S.C. §15703(e)(2). 20 42 U.S.C. §15703(e). 21 42 U.S.C. §15703(a-c). 22 Agency representatives serving on the WWG during the reporting period are listed at the front of this report. 23 National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program Interagency Coordinating Committee. (2017). Strategic Plan for the National 

Windstorm Impact Reduction Program – Draft for Public Comment. Retrived from 

https://www.nist.gov/system/files/documents/2017/03/13/strategic_plan_for_national_windstorm_impact_reduction_program_-

_draft_f.pdf

24 National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program Interagency Coordinating Committee. (2018). Strategic Plan for National 

Windstorm Impact Reduction Program – Final Version. Retrived from https://www.nist.gov/el/materials-and-structural-systemsdivision-73100/national-windstorm-impact-reduction-program-0
13

losses of life and property from windstorms. . Together, the linked goals and objectives provide a solid 

foundation for windstorm impact reduction, spanning the range of necessary actions from basic research 

through implementation. 

The Plan also identifies eight priority focus areas for new and enhanced efforts. These Strategic 

Priorities, listed below, build upon and support elements of all 14 objectives. Strategic Priorities provide 

focused areas of foundational research critical to supporting future advances, as well as crosscutting 

themes and key opportunities for more rapid windstorm impact reduction.

SP-1: Develop Baseline Estimates of Loss of Life and Property due to Windstorms

SP-2: Obtain Measurements of Surface Winds and Storm Surge Current and Waves in Severe 

Storms

SP-3: Develop Publicly Available Databases of Windstorm Hazards and Impacts

SP-4: Develop Performance-Based Design for Windstorm Hazards

SP-5: Improve Windstorm Resistance of Existing Buildings and Other Structures

SP-6: Enhance Outreach and Partnerships to Improve Windstorm Preparedness and Hazard 

Mitigation 

SP-7: Enhance and Promote Effective Storm Sheltering Strategies

SP-8: Develop the Nation’s Human Resource Base in Windstorm Hazard Mitigation Fields

The Plan includes a mapping of each Program Agency’s statutory responsibilities25 to the Strategic Plan’s 

goals, objectives, and Strategic Priorities, reproduced in this report as Appendix B. The diagram below 

shows how the elements of the Strategic Plan all work together to reduce loss of life and property from 

windstorms:

Figure 6: NWIRP Activities in Support of Goals, and Intended Outcomes

25 42 U.S.C. § 15703(b).

NWIRP Collaboration on Windstorm R&D, Education

and Outreach Mechanisms to Implement NWIRP

Outputs

Goal A

Improve

Understanding of

Windstorms

Processes and

Hazards

- Physics of

hurricanes,

tornadoes,

thunderstorms and

other windstorms

- Climatology of

extreme wind events

- Engineering

characteristics of

extreme wind events

- Effects of long

term trends in storm

patterns on future

hazards

- Probabilistic

hazard assessments

Improve

Understanding

of Windstorm

Impacts on

Communities

- Specific actions

that can reduce

impacts of

windstorms

- How windstorm

hazards impact

communities

- Response of

structures to

windstorm

hazards

- Tools for risk

assessment and

loss estimation

Goal B Goal C

- Tools for effective

prediction and

warning

-Tools for

emergency

responders

- Incentives to

encourage

mitigation

-Windstorm resistant

building codes and

standards

- New materials,

products, and

systems

Outcomes:

Reductions in

Loss of Life

and Property

Better forecasts & emergency communications

lead to more effective warnings and public

response to disasters

Homes, buildings and infrastructure are safer

and more resilient because improved

building codes are adopted and enforced,

windstorm design standards are updated,

and construction practices are improved

Improve

Windstorm

Resilience of

Communities

Nationwide

Implementation of voluntary mitigation

measures, such as retrofitting of homes and

businesses, installing storm shelters, or

constructing facilities to code-plus standards
14

The goals, objectives, Strategic Priorities, and implementation strategies of the Plan serve as guidelines 

for NWIRP efforts, but NWIRP will remain adaptable to contingencies and opportunities as they arise. 

Progress on implementation of the Plan and the rate of Program accomplishment will depend on the level 

of resources that are available to Program agencies.

3.4. Coordinated Budget

The NWIRP Coordinated Budget summarizes the planned activities by each of the four Program agencies 

and provides recently enacted funding levels and budget requests for the upcoming fiscal year. A copy of 

the fiscal year 2018 Coordinated Budget submitted to Congress is provided in Appendix C. 

3.5. National Advisory Committee on Windstorm Impact Reduction

The National Windstorm Impact Reduction Act Reauthorization of 2015 (Public Law 114-52) called for 

the creation of the National Advisory Committee for Windstorm Impact Reduction (NACWIR or 

Committee).

26 It was charged with offering assessments and recommendations on the programmatic 

components of NWIRP, including the development of the NWIRP Strategic Plan.27 In accord with 

NWIRP’s authorizing statute, the Committee was composed of representatives of research and academic 

institutions, industry standards development organizations, emergency management agencies, state and 

local government, and business communities, including the insurance industry who were qualified to 

provide advice on windstorm impact reduction and represent related scientific, architectural, and 

engineering disciplines.

28 Consistent with the statutory requirements, none of the members were 

employees of the Federal Government.

29

NIST organized six meetings of the NACWIR and the Committee completed their report within the 

statutorily required timeframe in fiscal year 2017.

30 They determined that the core agencies are making 

progress on key projects and programs that align with their missions and the NWIRP goals articulated in 

what was then the draft Strategic Plan.31 They noted, however, that lack of resources and associated 

prioritization of the Program within the agencies is impeding the ability of the Program’s goal “to achieve 

major measurable reductions in the losses of life and property from windstorms.”32 Despite limited 

funding, the Committee observed that the WWG was effectively coordinating activities at the staff level. 

The Committee reviewed the Strategic Plan and submitted a report with their recommendations to the 

NIST Director. The Committee’s report offered a number of recommendations which were incorporated 

into the Strategic Plan. 

26 42 U.S.C. § 15704. 27 42 U.S.C. § 15704(b). Additional information about the Committee is available on the NACWIR website at: 

https://www.nist.gov/el/mssd/nwirp/national-advisory-committee-windstorm-impact-reduction 28 42 U.S.C. § 15704(a). 29 Ibid. 30 42 USC § 15704(f). 31 National Advisory Committee on Windstorm Impact Reduction. (2017). Assessments of and Recommendations for the 

National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program and its Implementation. Retrived from https://www.nist.gov/el/materials-andstructural-systems-division-73100/national-windstorm-impact-reduction-program-1 32 Ibid. p. iii. 
15

3.6. NIST Lead Agency Management and Coordination Activities

As the Lead Agency, NIST has the primary responsibility for planning and coordinating the Program and 

ensuring that the Program includes the necessary components to promote implementation of windstorm 

risk reduction measures.33 NIST may also request assistance from other federal agencies to assist in 

carrying out the Program.34 In fiscal years 2017-18, NIST sought additional assistance from NASA for 

their expertise in satellite imagery, and from HUD for their knowledge of manufactured housing and 

assessments of how such housing performed in recent wind events. 

Three additional statutory Lead Agency responsibilities are to: 1) support the development of 

performance-based engineering tools;

35 2) coordinate all federal post-windstorm investigations to the 

extent practicable;36 and 3) issue recommendations to inform development of model building codes.37

NIST activities supporting these responsibilities during fiscal years 2017-18 are described in the 

following sections. Statutory responsibilities for all Program agencies are listed in Appendix B.

3.6.1 Support for Performance-Based Engineering

Performance-based engineering uses specific performance metrics to drive the assessment, design, and 

construction of engineered facilities, as opposed to more traditional, prescriptive procedures. In 

furtherance of the statutory responsibilities, both NIST and FEMA worked with the American Society of 

Civil Engineers (ASCE) Ad Hoc Committee on Performance-based Design (PBD) for Wind Hazards. 

This effort focused on developing the overall framework and pre-standard provisions of PBD for all 

windstorms, including tornadoes. In addition, NIST identified research needed to develop an immediate 

occupancy building performance objective following natural hazard events (including windstorms). 

3.6.2. Coordination of Federal Post-Windstorm Investigations

Consistent with its statutory responsibilities, NIST coordinates all federal post-windstorm investigations 

to the extent practicable.38 In fiscal years 2017-18, NIST conducted post-windstorm coordination 

activities for several landfalling hurricanes, including Harvey, Irma, Maria, Nate and Florence. In 

addition to participation in pre- and post-landfall coordination calls led by other agencies, including 

NOAA, USGS, and FEMA, NIST conducted WWG coordination calls on an as-needed basis to address 

needs identified during other calls. For example, as multiple agencies were considering assessing the 

performance of manufactured housing following Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, coordination calls were 

conducted between NIST, FEMA, and HUD. Data collection plans were discussed prior to field 

deployments to help avoid gaps and overlaps, and results were shared following the fieldwork conducted 

by the three agencies.

Immediately following the landfall of Hurricane Harvey in August 2017, NIST collaborated with Applied 

Research Associates, Inc. (ARA) to develop maps showing the maximum estimated windspeed of the 

storm as it moved across Texas. For Hurricanes Irma, Maria, Nate, and Florence, NIST was mission

assigned by FEMA to develop estimated windfields for input to their Hazus Hurricane Model, which is 

33 42 U.S.C. § 15703(b)(1)(A). 34 42 U.S.C. § 15703(b)(1)(C). 35 42 U.S.C. § 15703(b)(1)(B). Performance-based engineering uses specific performance metrics to drive the assessment, 

design, and construction of engineered facilities, as opposed to more traditional, prescriptive procedures.

36 42 U.S.C. § 15703(b)(1)(D). 37 42 U.S.C. § 15703(b)(1)(E). 38 42 U.S.C. § 15703(b)(1)(D).
16

used to estimate storm impacts. Initial windfield estimates were typically produced within one day 

following hurricane landfall, with improved versions published by day 3 and day 7, as more observation 

data from meteorological stations was obtained, processed, and analyzed. An example of one such 

windfield analysis is shown in Figure 7 for Hurricane Irma’s landfall on the continental U.S. NIST 

leveraged these wind analyses to produce additional hurricane windfield products in support of poststorm data collection and analysis (as described in Section 4, Objective 8).

Figure 7. Wind Swath from Hurricane Irma over the Continental U.S. Produced by Applied 

Research Associates, Inc.

3.6.3 Recommendations for Model Codes

NIST issues recommendations to inform the development of model codes and keeps Congress apprised of

such recommendations. NIST and FEMA have translated findings from research and investigations of 

recent storms into recommendations for improved codes and standards. Recent Program successes in 

making changes to national standards and model building codes are summarized in Section 5.2.
17

4. Progress in Fiscal Years 2017 and 2018

Progress made during fiscal years 2017-18 on windstorm impact reduction is summarized in this section. 

Activities supporting the eight Strategic Priorities identified in the NWIRP Strategic Plan39 are presented 

in Section 4.1, and progress towards achieving the three broader Goals and associated 14 Objectives is 

described in Section 4.2.

4.1. Strategic Priorities

SP-1: Develop Baseline Estimates of Loss of Life and Property Due to Windstorms

NIST: During fiscal year 2018, as part of NIST’s Hurricane Maria Program (see Objective 5), work 

began on a new project to complete a quantitative assessment that attributes morbidity and mortality 

to building and infrastructure failures in Puerto Rico. The study results will provide guidance to 

improve building codes and standards, and inform future approaches to accurately attribute and 

predict life loss due to windstorm-caused building failures.

SP-2: Obtain Measurements of Surface Winds and Storm Surge Current and Waves in Severe 

Storms

NOAA/NSF: Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment. In fiscal years 

2009 and 2010, NSF and NOAA’s National Severe Storm Laboratory (NSSL) jointly supported the 

field phase of the Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment 2 (VORTEX2), 

which was the largest and most ambitious tornado field study conducted to date. This $14 million 

effort involved nearly 100 scientists and students from 16 American universities/organizations and 

other federal agencies, as well as forecasters from the National Weather Service (NWS) (including 

the Storm Prediction Center (SPC)), Environment Canada, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, 

and the Finnish Meteorological Institute. This is the first VORTEX experiment to have a focus on all

the processes ranging from the conditions and storms that produce the tornadoes and the way NWS 

forecasters anticipate, detect, and warn for tornadoes, to the way the end users receive and respond to 

that information. As such, it integrates meteorology, NWS operations, and a broad range of social 

sciences, and supports a number of NWIRP Strategic Priorities and Objectives. VORTEX-South 

East (SE) has continued to support a number of physical and social science research projects led by 

various university and government research organizations through fiscal year 2018, including several 

successful field observation programs in the Southeast United States. Researchers are beginning to 

share results from their initial projects, and are working to establish strong collaboration across the 

research and operational sectors to ensure results are integrated throughout the broader community. 

NSF: In-situ and Remote-Sensing Measurements of Storm-Scale and Low-Level Tornado and 

Hurricane Winds. In fiscal year 2018, NSF funded a field campaign “Targeted Observation by 

Radars and UAS of Supercells (TORUS)” NSF-1824649, 1824609, 1824713, 1824811, awarded to 

University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Texas Tech University, University of Colorado-Boulder, and 

University of Oklahoma. TORUS is a successor to the VORTEX2 field campaigns in that some of 

39 National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program Interagency Coordinating Committee. (2018). Strategic Plan for National 

Windstorm Impact Reduction Program. Retrived from https://www.nist.gov/el/materials-and-structural-systems-division73100/national-windstorm-impact-reduction-program-0
18

the main lessons learned from VORTEX2 and subsequent analysis will be put to the test in the 

TORUS campaign. Specifically, the researchers will make heavy use of Unmanned Aerial Systems 

(UAS) in addition to surface and mobile radar observations to answer questions about the 

thermodynamics of the very near-supercell environment, which has implication for tornadogenesis. 

This will be a two-year campaign in 2019 and 2020. 

In the two consecutive active hurricane seasons of 2017 and 2018, NSF issued Dear Colleague 

Letters to solicit research responding to urgent national needs, which will be discussed more in SP-3 

below. In fiscal years 2017-18, NSF funded a significant number of Rapid Response awards as a 

result of the devastating hurricane seasons, including deploying mobile radars, and collecting and 

analyzing data for Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. An early result of those investments has been the 

confirmation of the role of small, tornado-scale features in the hurricane wind field that can lead to 

damaging gusts. The Rapid Response Research (RAPID) awards for Hurricane Florence and Michael 

are works in progress.

SP-3: Develop Publicly Available Databases of Windstorm Hazards and Impacts

NSF: National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). Based on merit review and 

programmatic relevance, NSF funds projects which increase understanding of weather-related high 

impact events. NSF’s federally funded research and development center, NCAR, has played a crucial 

role collaborating with the U.S. research community, especially academic researchers in large-scale 

field campaigns, to gather critical observations. NCAR has several roles. First, they help deploy 

research facilities, such as aircraft, radar, and lidar, into the field. Second, they serve as a central 

repository for all collected data for the research community. Third, they provide large-scale, high 

performance computers and develop community models to assist the U.S. atmospheric research 

community. Examples of NCAR-supported projects include VORTEX-SE and its predecessors, 

TORUS, and a number of field campaigns (see Strategic Priority 2 and Objective 1, respectively).

NIST: Center for Risk-Based Community Resilience Planning. The NIST-funded Center for 

Risk-Based Community Resilience Planning (http://resilience.colostate.edu), is a collaborative effort 

between 12 universities led by Colorado State University. It conducts extensive field studies in 

collaboration with NIST to collect data on resilience and recovery from disasters for validation of 

community disaster resilience models. During fiscal years 2017-18, the Center collected multidisciplinary longitudinal data in Lumberton, North Carolina, on the continuing impacts of, and 

recovery from, Hurricane Matthew in 2016.

NSF: Rapid Response Research Facility. The NSF-supported Natural Hazards Engineering 

Research Infrastructure (NHERI) post-disaster, rapid response research (RAPID) facility, is a fiveyear project, initially funded in September 2016. The scientific goal of the project is to support 

natural hazard researchers to conduct next generation RAPID research. Researchers accomplish this 

goal by acquiring and sharing high-quality, post-disaster data sets that will enable characterization of 

civil infrastructure performance under natural hazard loads (including windstorms); evaluating the 

effectiveness of current and previous design methodologies; calibrating computational models used to 

predict civil infrastructure component and system responses to natural hazards, and developing

solutions for resilient communities.
19

As a community resource, the facility will: (1) support acquisition of an unprecedented amount of 

perishable, post-disaster, high-quality, open data by the natural hazards community; (2) provide 

learning and training opportunities in post-disaster reconnaissance; (3) promote public engagement 

with science and technology through a citizen science data collection initiative; and (4) develop new,

and strengthen existing international research partnerships by establishing collaborations with foreign 

organizations during global deployments. The RAPID facility has been developing tools to support 

data collection and analysis (see Objective 8). Collected data will be archived by the NHERI 

Cyberinfrastructure facility (see Objective 5). As of the end of fiscal year 2018, this research facility 

has completed the two-year development and equipment acquisition phase and is now operational for 

field deployment through August 2021.

SP-4: Develop Performance-Based Design for Windstorm Hazards

NSF: Design Frameworks for Structural Wind Performance. Reducing the impact on structures 

from wind hazards is a critical consideration in the design of buildings. NSF is funding awards that 

are creating design frameworks for satisfying performance requirements that go beyond prescriptive 

building code provisions. Principles of PBD have been adopted in earthquake engineering, and NSFfunded projects are extending this to wind engineering. An NSF award to Texas Tech University is

formulating computational models for characterizing rotating tornado wind loading and impact on 

low-rise buildings. These models can be used to conduct performance-based evaluations of low-rise 

buildings to reduce damage and fatalities. 

NIST: Performance-based Design for Wind. During fiscal years 2017-18, NIST began

development of PBD for tornadoes, including new tornado hazard maps (see Objective 4). Both 

NIST and FEMA worked with the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Ad Hoc Committee

on PBD for Wind Hazards. This effort focused on developing the overall framework and prestandard provisions for PBD for all windstorms, including tornadoes. NWIRP adapted some 

elements of PBD for earthquakes, developed through efforts of the National Earthquake Hazards 

Reduction Program (NEHRP).

40 During fiscal year 2018, the Ad-Hoc Committee was replaced by a 

PBD Task Committee within the new ASCE 7 Wind Load Subcommittee, charged with developing 

Wind PBD provisions and commentary for the 2022 edition of the ASCE 7 standard.41 NIST and 

FEMA continue to participate in this new Task Committee. 

SP-5: Improve Windstorm Resistance of Existing Buildings and Other Structures

FEMA: Recommendations for improving windstorm resistance of existing buildings are discussed in 

several of the Recovery Advisories published after Mitigation Assessment Teams assessed building 

performance after Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. 

Virgin Islands.42 Some examples of the Recovery Advisories that provide this information are:

40 National Institute of Standards and Technology, National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program. Performance-Based 

Design. Retrived from https://www.nehrp.gov/library/guidance_pbsd.htm 41 American Society of Civil Engineers. ASCE 7 and SEI Standards. ASCE 7 2-22 Deveopment Cycle. Retrived from: 

https://www.asce.org/structural-engineering/asce-7-and-sei-standards/ 42 U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency. Recovery Advisories. 

https://www.fema.gov/media-library/resources-documents/collections/24
20

- FL – RA 3 – Mitigation Triggers for Roof Repair and Replacement in the 6th 

 Edition (2017) Florida Building Code

- USVI – RA 2 – Attachment of Rooftop Equipment in High-Wind Regions

- USVI – RA 3 – Installation of Residential Corrugated Metal Roof Systems

- USVI – RA 4 – Design Installation and Retrofit of Doors Windows and Shutters

- USVI – RA 5 – Rooftop Solar Panel Attachment: Design, Installation, & Maintenance

- PR – RA 1 – Rooftop Equipment Maintenance and Attachment in High-Wind Regions

- PR – RA 5 – Protecting Windows and Openings in Buildings

- PR – RA 6 – Repair and Replacement of Wood Residential Roof Covering Systems

SP-6: Enhance Outreach and Partnerships to Improve Windstorm Preparedness and Hazard 

Mitigation 

NOAA: Weather-Ready Nation. The purpose of NOAA’s Weather Ready Nation (WRN) initiative

is to save lives and protect livelihoods. By increasing the Nation’s weather-readiness, the country 

will be prepared to protect, mitigate, respond to, and recover from weather-related disasters such as 

severe windstorms. The NWS is leveraging its vast nationwide network of partners and incorporating 

new ones including: other U.S. government agencies and emergency managers, researchers, the 

media, insurance industry, non-profits, the private sector, the weather enterprise, and more. During

fiscal years 2017-18, the WRN program initiated: a new project for simplifying the way hazards are 

communicated (hazards simplification); a new NOAA water model for better predictions of 

streamflow at neighborhood scales of resolution for protecting life and property from localized 

flooding; constant social media engagement using infographics highlighting wind hazards and 

mitigation actions; and engagement with over 8,500 organizations recognized by NOAA as 

"Weather-Ready Nation Ambassadors." These are organizations that act as force multipliers sharing 

preparedness information with others.43 Further description of the functions of WRN Ambassadors 

can be found at: https://www.weather.gov/wrn/ambassadors. Additional information about WRN, 

publications, initiatives, and news and events can be found at: https://www.weather.gov/wrn/.

FLASH/NOAA: #HurricaneStrong. #HurricaneStrong is a national resilience initiative led by the 

Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (FLASH)® to save lives and homes by collaborating with leading 

organizations in the disaster safety movement.44 It was launched during the 2016 hurricane season.

The collaboration with NOAA and the National Hurricane Center (NHC) provides hurricane safety 

and mitigation information through business summits, digital channels, events, home improvement 

store workshops, media outreach, school lesson plans, and a social media campaign featuring a 

#HurricaneStrong “pose". During fiscal years 2017-18 #HurricaneStrong has had an online 

readership of 804 million hits, adding an additional 68 pieces of coverage, 17,000 Tweets, 7,000

unique contributors on Twitter, and an estimated audience reach exceeding 24 million. 

IBHS: FORTIFIED HomeTM Program. The Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety’s 

(IBHS) FORTIFIED HomeTM program provides a uniform, voluntary, superior set of science-based 

standards to help improve a home’s resilience by adding system-specific upgrades beyond code 

43 Further descriptions of the functions of WRN Ambassadors can be found at: https://www.weather.gov/wrn/ambassadors. 

Additional information about WRN, publications, initiatives, news and events can be found at: https://www.weather.gov/wrn/. 44 For more information, visit www.hurricanestrong.org.
21

requirements. The program comprises three progressive designation levels (Bronze, Silver and Gold) 

that address critical building systems, such as the roof, openings and attached structures, and the 

critical continuous load path. For hurricanes, these are the same standards outlined in FEMA P-804, 

the Wind Retrofit Guide for Residential Buildings.

45 During fiscal years 2017-18, IBHS authored a 

post-disaster study of the coastal wind damage caused by Hurricane Harvey.46 The study unveiled 

new guidance for consumers with homes exposed to hurricane wind, and also offered new 

quantitative data to inform architects and building designers, insurers and catastrophe modelers. This 

report will be useful in guiding home repairs, roofing and construction considerations in wind-prone 

and wind-damaged areas.

IBHS also has a FORTIFIED Commercial program. During fiscal years 2017-18, IBHS Commercial 

developed hurricane standards which help building owners improve their commercial structure’s 

ability to resist damage from hurricanes and tropical storms.47 These standards employ an 

incremental approach toward making new and existing commercial buildings more resistant to 

damage from severe weather. Similar to the IBHS FORTIFIED Home program, builders can work 

with owners to choose a desired level of protection that best suits their budgets and resilience goals. 

IBHS Commercial also developed High Wind and Hail Standards.48 These standards help building 

owners improve their commercial structure’s ability to resist damage from thunderstorms, winds at 

the edges of tornadoes, and hail events. The recommendations can be incorporated either during new 

construction or retrofitting existing buildings. 

SP-7: Enhance and Promote Effective Storm Sheltering Strategies

NIST/FEMA: Storm Shelter Standard. NIST and FEMA staff serve on the Consensus Committee 

on Storm Shelters, which is chaired by a NIST staff member. NIST and FEMA are participating in

the consensus update process for the third edition of the ICC 500, Standard for the Design and 

Construction of Storm Shelters, and commentary. The Consensus Committee on Storm Shelters, 

which is writing this new edition, began meeting late in fiscal year 2018. 

FEMA: Development of Technical Guidance Materials on Safe Rooms and State-of-the-Art 

Wind-Resistant Design and Construction Methods. Each year, many thousands of publications 

dealing with wind hazards are ordered and distributed by FEMA. For example, FEMA’s safe room 

guidance publications are among the most widely downloaded and distributed documents by FEMA’s 

library and publications warehouse (FEMA P-320: Taking Shelter From the Storm: Building a Safe 

Room For Your Home or Small Business and FEMA P-361: Safe Rooms for Tornadoes and 

Hurricanes: Guidance for Community and Residential Safe Rooms). FEMA also monitors a Safe 

Room Helpline to answer questions about their safe room guidance from people such as home and 

45 U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency. (December 2010). Wind Retrofit Guide 

for Residential Buildings, FEMA P-804. Retrived from https://www.fema.gov/media-library/assets/documents/21082 46 Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety. (July 2018). Hurricane Harvey Wind Damage Investigation. Retrived from

https://disastersafety.org/hurricane/hurricane-harvey/ 47 Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety. (2017). FORTIFIED Commercial Hurricane Standards. Retrived from

http://fortifiedhome.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/FORTIFIED-Commercial-Factsheet.pdf 48 Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety. (2017). FORTIFIED Commercial High Wind & Hail Standards. Retrived 

from https://fortifiedhome.org/commercial/high-wind-hail/
22

building owners, building officials, builders, engineers, and architects. During fiscal years 2017-18, 

FEMA continued developing and publishing technical guidance materials. Examples include:

• Numerous Recovery Advisories49 supporting safe room design and construction,

including:

- TX – RA 2 – Asphalt Shingle Roofing for High-Wind Regions

- FL – RA 2 – Soffit Installation in Florida

- FL – RA 3 – Mitigation Triggers for Roof Repair and Replacement in the 6th 

 Edition (2017) Florida Building Code

- USVI – RA 2 – Attachment of Rooftop Equipment in High-Wind Regions

- USVI – RA 3 – Installation of Residential Corrugated Metal Roof Systems

- USVI – RA 4 – Design, Installation and Retrofit of Doors, Windows, and Shutters

- USVI – RA 5 – Rooftop Solar Panel Attachment: Design, Installation, & Maintenance

- PR – RA 1 – Rooftop Equipment Maintenance and Attachment in High-Wind Regions

- PR – RA 3 – Safe Rooms and Storm Shelters for Life-Safety Protection from Hurricanes

- PR – RA 5 – Protecting Windows and Openings in Buildings

- PR – RA 6 – Repair and Replacement of Wood Residential Roof Covering Systems

• Fact Sheets supporting safe room design, construction and maintenance, including:

- Community Tornado Safe Room Doors: Installation and Maintenance

- Residential Tornado Safe Room Doors (update)

SP-8: Develop the Nation’s Human Resource Base in Windstorm Hazard Mitigation Fields

NSF: Research Awards. During the reporting period, NSF awards supporting NWIRP typically 

provided research funding for academic faculty, as well as graduate and undergraduate students. 

These awards provided an invaluable learning experience for graduate and undergraduate students. 

Some NSF awards supported post-doctoral early career researchers as well. 

NSF: Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU). The REU program50 supports active 

research participation by undergraduate students in any of the areas of research funded by the NSF.

During the reporting period, REU projects involved students in meaningful ways in ongoing research 

programs (REU supplements) or in research projects specifically designed for the REU program 

(REU sites). Many NSF-funded projects supporting NWIRP have REU supplements. One REU site 

is operated by the NSF Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) Network 

Coordination Office.

51 This REU is a 10-week summer research program and annually brings about 

30 students together with faculty to conduct research on topics such as: multi-hazard engineering, 

cyberinfrastructure, data management and site simulations. The research is conducted through 

projects and direct interactions with researchers working at the leading edge of understanding the 

impacts of windstorms on civil infrastructure. This REU site successfully attracts a diverse group of 

49 U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency. Recovery Advisories.

https://www.fema.gov/it/media-library/collections/24 50 National Science Foundation. Research Experiences for Undergraduates. https://www.nsf.gov/crssprgm/reu/ 51 National Science Foundation, DesignSafe-CI, NHERI. Network Coordination Office. https://www.designsafeci.org/facilities/nco/organization/
23

students to participate in the program and to increase their interest in conducting research in the field 

of windstorm impact reduction. 

NOAA: Storm Surge Education and Awareness. Storm surge is one of the most destructive 

threats to life and property in the path of a hurricane. Public awareness and outreach are vital to 

building a resilient community. NOAA's NWS along with the NHC developed new tools to improve 

communication and public understanding of storm surge, including a new NWS Storm Surge Watch 

and Warning that highlights areas at greatest risk for life-threatening storm surge inundation ahead of 

landfalling tropical storm and hurricanes. These watches and warnings debuted in the United States 

during the destructive 2017 hurricane season and there were no known storm surge fatalities in the 

United States despite the landfall of 3 major hurricanes in 2017. These watches and warnings were 

also issued before hurricanes Florence and Michael during the 2018 hurricanes season. In addition, 

NHC continues to partner with FEMA to educate emergency managers about the hazards of storm 

surge. The NHC also provides extensive storm surge outreach material on their website, including a 

series of YouTube videos that help explain the dangers of storm surge.

52 The NOAA Hurricane 

Awareness Tour was conducted in 2017 and 2018 to bring awareness to coastal and inland 

communities about the hazards of hurricanes. The tours included U.S. Air Force Reserve and NOAA 

Hurricane Hunter Aircraft that conducted “stops" in various locations along the East and Gulf Coast 

of the United States. The tours were held during National Hurricane Preparedness Week to discuss 

hurricane preparedness and mitigation. The 2017 East Coast Awareness Tour made stops in Islip, 

New York, Washington, D.C., Raleigh, North Carolina, Orlando, Florida, and Miami, Florida. The 

2018 Gulf Coast Tour made stops in Brownsville, Texas, Beaumont, Texas, Baton Rouge, Louisana, 

Birmingham, Alabama, and Lakeland, Florida. More than 100 media interviews were conducted on 

each tour and thousands of school children and the public toured the aircraft. Partners such as the 

Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (FLASH) also participated and discussed the latest in home and 

business mitigation. 

FEMA: Education, Outreach, and Information Dissemination. The FEMA website, 

http://www.fema.gov, serves as the Nation's portal to emergency and disaster information. FEMA 

publications related to wind and coastal surge hazards are available for free on FEMA’s media library

website, the Google Books website, and MADCAD (http://www.madcad.com/). Following the 2017 

hurricane season, FEMA continued to partner with communities and community organizations to 

teach design professionals and local officials the concepts of mitigation and safe room design. Many 

of these presentations and trainings were focused on hurricane wind mitigation in areas that are 

currently rebuilding. FEMA also provides in-person and online training based out of the Emergency 

Management Institute (EMI) in Emmitsburg, Maryland. FEMA is currently developing two new 

advanced wind-related modules for in-person training courses at EMI.

FEMA has maintained its partnership with external organizations such the Federal Alliance for Safe 

Homes (FLASH), NOAA, and the Hurricane Hunters which hosted the Hurricane Awareness Tour 

that FEMA participated in. The tour went to five different coastal towns from Texas to Florida and 

provided school children with demonstrations, tours of the aircraft, and information about hurricanes.

FEMA provided safety and preparedness guidance geared towards children and reached 

52 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Hurricane Center. Storm Surge Resources. 

https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/surge/resources.php
24

approximately 500 children per stop. Flash drives with all FEMA Building Science publications 

were available for teachers and parents that attended.

FHWA: Training and Technology Transfer. Technology transfer of high-performance

computational analysis techniques is an important part of Argonne National Laboratory’s (ANL)

work to support and advance wind-related engineering and research programs at the Turner-Fairbank 

Highway Research Center. The technology transfer is accomplished by publishing techniques 

developed and the work done in reports and papers, presentations at conferences, and training courses 

in CFD capabilities and techniques offered by the Transportation Research and Analysis Computing 

Center (TRACC). More than five hands-on training courses53 have been developed and provided to 

students and practitioners during previous reporting periods.

4.2. Objectives

As described in Section 3.3, three overarching, long-term Strategic Goals were established to 

accomplish the NWIRP mission, consistent with identified needs and the statutory requirements of 

the program. Within each goal, the NWIRP identified specific objectives. NWIRP Agency activities 

toward accomplishing those objectives during fiscal years 2017-18 are described here:

GOAL A. IMPROVE THE UNDERSTANDING OF WINDSTORM PROCESSES AND 

HAZARDS

Objective 1: Advance understanding of windstorms and associated hazards 

NSF: Prediction of and Resilience against Extreme Events (PREEVENTS). In fiscal years 

2017-18 the Directorate for Geosciences at NSF hosted a program54 specific to natural hazards and 

extreme events. PREEVENTS included both a direct solicitation and an internal co-funding 

component. Windstorms were heavily represented, with a number of tornado and hurricane-related 

research projects funded. PREEVENTS will continue through fiscal year 2020. 

NSF: Hurricane Predictability and Predictions. NSF continues to invest in studies related to the 

basic science behind tropical cyclones and hurricanes. These studies range from the small-scale 

analysis of the effects of sea spray and cloud particles to questions regarding the genesis of cyclones 

and how large-scale environmental factors affect their intensity and movement. In fiscal years 2017-

18, NSF funded studies on the fundamental aspects of hurricane intensification, laboratory 

observations of how extreme wind speed affects air-sea interaction in hurricanes, and the implication 

of gravity wave propagation from tropical cyclones.

NSF: Understanding of physical processes for the formation and maintenance of hurricanes

and tornadoes using high-performance computer models. A number of funded research projects 

involved computer modeling of tornadoes and hurricanes. These studies typically compared 

simulated storms with actually observed storms and tried to deduce the physical mechanisms 

controlling the development of storms. One of the examples representing this type of research is an 

53 Argonne National Laboratory, Transportation Research and Analysis Computing Center. Computational Fluid Dynamics 

Training. https://www.tracc.anl.gov/index.php/computational-fluid-dynamics-training 54 National Science Foundation. (2016). A closer Look at PREEVENTS: Prediction of and Resilience Against Extreme Events. 

Retrieved from https://www.nsf.gov/geo/ear/updates/oct2016/preevents-oct2016.jsp
25

award: “Understanding tornado development and maintenance in supercells with an emphasis on 

‘high-end’ events”, NSF-1832327, 1832326, and 1832346, awarded to University of WisconsinMadison, Saint Louis University, and High Impact Weather Research & Consulting, LLC. This 

research is intended to improve our understanding of tornado formation and maintenance by 

simulating tornado-producing supercells at ultra-high temporal and spatial resolutions.

NIST: Tornado Climatology. In order to develop more accurate tornado hazard maps (Objective 4) 

and tornado loss estimation tools (Objective 9), NIST developed methodologies to quantify and 

correct for population bias (where more tornadoes are observed and reported in populated areas); 

developed a methodology for identifying regions of the U.S. having similar tornado climatology; and 

conducted analyses to provide better correlation between damage and wind speed, the relationship 

that provides the basis for tornado ratings in the Fujita (F) and Enhanced Fujita (EF) scales.

NIST: Topographic Effects on Wind Speeds. As part of its Hurricane Maria Program (see 

Objective 5), NIST initiated work to investigate the influence of topography on surface level wind 

speeds in Puerto Rico. During fiscal year 2018, NIST developed plans for wind tunnel testing and 

computational wind engineering analyses, to better understand the wind speed-up effects, and to 

determine if they are adequately represented by the topographic factors used in modern building 

codes and standards.

Objective 2: Develop tools to improve windstorm data collection and analysis 

NSF: New Observational Tools and Techniques. In fiscal years 2017-18, NSF provided funding 

for two new observing technologies intended to assist researchers in studying fundamental aspects of 

windstorms. One of these tools was the development of a high-resolution radar for hurricane landfall 

and supercell thunderstorm studies, among others. NSF also invested in a new technique for 

retrieving thermodynamics within supercell thunderstorms using a constant pressure balloon. In this 

technique, two balloons carry a sensor package. When the balloons reach a relevant altitude and 

storm-relative location, one of the balloons is jettisoned and the other balloon follows the storm 

inflow and records crucial temperature and moisture data in areas that are unreachable by manned or 

unmanned aircraft. 

NOAA: New Observing Technologies. New observing technologies are being tested and 

demonstrated as a part of NOAA’s Intensity Forecasting Experiment (IFEX) (see Objective 13). 

These technologies include use of NASA’s remotely piloted high-altitude Global Hawk scientific 

research unmanned aircraft system in a hurricane research capacity; the low altitude unmanned 

Coyote system for measuring winds, temperature, and moisture in the hurricane boundary layer 

where manned aircraft cannot safely reach; and the Doppler wind lidar, which provides the capability 

to sample winds in precipitation-free regions that radars cannot measure.

NOAA: Multifunction Phased Array Radar (MPAR). The National Severe Storms Laboratory is 

demonstrating the capabilities of the Multifunction Phased Array Radar (MPAR), a program funded 

through a partnership between NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) and the 

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) with significant technical contributions from industry and 

academia. The MPAR project will demonstrate the potential of phased array radar (which has long 

been used to track aircraft) to perform as a weather radar. Research conducted at NSSL has shown 

rapid-scan phased array technology to be beneficial in improving the detection and warning of severe 
26

storm phenomena and to improving numerical weather prediction in support of severe storm 

forecasting. 

During fiscal years 2017-18, engineering activities have primarily centered on the design and 

development of the Advanced Technology Demonstrator (ATD). The purpose of the ATD system is 

to gain knowledge and reduce the technical risks associated with the engineering and development of

dual polarization phased array radar technology. The ATD is a full-scale demonstration radar that 

will be capable of assessing the ability of phased array technology to address the operational 

meteorological requirements of the NWS. Installation of the ATD began during this reporting 

period.55

NOAA/NIST/ASCE/AMS: Tornado Wind Speed Estimation. Although the EF Scale adopted by 

the NWS in 2007 represented a major improvement over the previously used F Scale, it still has 

significant shortcomings. Most notably, the wind speed estimates from observed damage are based 

on expert elicitation (i.e., judgement). Users of the EF Scale and other stakeholders, including NWS, 

NIST, and FEMA, have identified many needed changes, including expansion of the number of 

damage indicators and, to the extent possible, incorporation of a more scientific basis for new and 

existing damage indicators. NIST staff co-chair a standards development committee on tornado wind 

speed estimation. This committee is charged with developing improvements to the EF Scale and 

other damage-based, post-storm techniques, including forensic engineering, analysis of airborne and 

space-based remotely sensed imagery, and treefall pattern analysis. The scope of the standard also 

includes methods of tornado wind speed estimation from data collected during the storm, including 

radar and in-situ measurements, as well as photogrammetric analysis. The committee comprises 

representatives from academia and the private sector, and multiple units within NOAA and NIST, 

along with other federal agencies including FEMA, NRC, and NASA. During the current reporting 

period, the American Meteorological Society (AMS) was brought on as a co-developer of the 

standard. Draft provisions for each of the methods have been developed and are currently going 

through the internal standards committee approval process.

Objective 3: Understand long term trends in windstorm frequency, intensity, and location

NOAA: Toward Seasonal Prediction and Long-term Severe Weather Variability. Since 2012

the NWS SPC has worked with the NWS Climate Prediction Center, academia, and the NOAA NSSL 

to improve understanding of the links between large-scale climate variability and windstorm and 

tornado activity. While climate predictions expect increased temperature and humidity in the lower 

atmosphere, there may also be decreased wind shear. In fiscal year 2018, the NSSL carried out 

research to measure how well observed values of important environmental variables for severe storms 

are represented in reanalysis estimates and has used those values to demonstrate an increase in the 

frequency of favorable conditions in the mid-South region of the United States over the last 40 years.

Objective 4: Develop tools to improve windstorm hazard assessment 

NIST: Wind Speed Maps (nontornadic). NIST completed work during the current reporting period 

on development of new design wind speed maps intended for adoption in current U.S. building codes 

55 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Severe Storms Laboratory. Advanced Technology Demonstrator.

https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/tools/radar/atd/
27

and standards (see also Objective 11). The project incorporated several technical advances over 

previous generations of maps.56 In addition to using more years of data from more weather stations 

around the U.S., NIST made adjustments to account for terrain conditions at anemometer locations, 

peak gusts at each station were classified by storm type (thunderstorm, non-thunderstorm, and 

tropical) and analyzed separately, and a peaks-over-threshold technique was used for estimation of 

wind speeds at the different return periods, instead of simply using annual extreme values. The new 

maps more accurately reflect the regional differences in extreme windstorm climatology.

NIST: Tornado Hazard Maps. Building on the advances from the NIST tornado climatology 

research (Objective 1), NIST continued developing a new generation of tornado hazard maps 

intended for use in tornado-resistant design of new buildings and structures (and supporting creation 

of performance-based design methodology for tornadoes – see SP-5), as well as risk assessment for 

existing facilities. During fiscal years 2017-18 NIST developed an improved tornado database for the 

years 1950-2016, including cleansed and augmented data; developed and tested a method to account 

for under-reporting of true tornado occurrence rates for most parts of the U.S.; and developed an 

approach for explicit consideration of uncertainties in the models. NIST also started planning another 

stakeholder workshop to roll out draft tornado hazard maps for a range of intervals, to be held in 

fiscal year 2019.

GOAL B. IMPROVE THE UNDERSTANDING OF WINDSTORM IMPACTS ON 

COMMUNITIES

Objective 5: Advance understanding of windstorm effects on the built environment 

HUD: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) amended the Federal 

Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards (Standards) in July 1994 to improve the wind 

resistance of manufactured homes in the areas prone to hurricane-strength winds. In the aftermath of 

Hurricane Irma, a team was assembled to conduct a damage survey of manufactured homes produced 

after 1994. The team visited 23 communities inspecting a total of 78 manufactured homes. The 

majority of the homes displayed minimal wind damage and none of the manufactured homes

displayed any visible foundation damage or shifts from the original positions. This observation can 

be attributed to the adequacy of the post 1994 Standards performance, prescriptive requirements, and 

the results of the quality control-focused environment that requires an acceptable level of 

workmanship to produce compliant manufactured homes. Despite these successes, it is important to 

note that manufactured homes in the subject area selected for inspection were located in HUD Wind 

Zone III and designed to resist a wind speed of 110 mph. Given that Hurricane Irma produced a 

maximum design wind speed of approximately 85 mph in that region, the manufactured homes 

inspected in Florida were not subjected to the design wind loads referred to in the HUD Standards.

NSF: Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI). The scientific purposes

for NHERI are to:

• Understand, model, and predict the lifecycle performance of civil infrastructure, from 

component to holistic system levels, under different natural hazard events; 

56 Pintar, A., Simiu, E., Lombardo, F., and Levitan, M. (2015). Maps of Non-hurricane Non-tornadic Wind Speeds With 

Specified Mean Recurrence Intervals for the Contiguous United States Using a Two-Dimensional Poisson Process Extreme 

Value Model and Local Regression. NIST Special Publication 500-301, 54.
28

• Reduce the reliance on physical testing for modeling the performance of civil infrastructure 

under natural hazard events through advanced computational modeling and simulation 

capabilities;

• Build the basic science knowledge and computational modeling and simulation capabilities to 

evaluate multi-hazard resilient and sustainable civil infrastructure and communities;

• Translate research into innovative mitigation strategies and technologies to reduce the impact 

of natural hazards on existing and new sustainable civil infrastructure and communities; and 

• Integrate research, education, and outreach to train a broad and inclusive STEM workforce to 

conduct and translate research into an innovation ecosystem for multi-hazard resilient and 

sustainable civil infrastructure and communities.

The operations of the NSF-supported NHERI originally began with 11 awards made in fiscal years 

2015-16 and has continued through the current FY 17-18 reporting period. Currently active NHERI

awards include the Network Coordination Office (NCO), Cyberinfrastructure (CI), the Computational 

Modeling and Simulation Center (SimCenter), and eight earthquake and wind engineering 

experimental facilities (including a post-disaster RAPID facility). 

Complementing the NHERI facilities, the CONVERGE project at the University of Colorado, 

Boulder, funded by NSF in fiscal year 2018, establishes and supports a new Extreme Events 

Reconnaissance Research Leadership Corps designed to connect engineering and social science 

researchers. These connections will help foster the development of best practice guidelines for postdisaster, reconnaissance research and public communications in the event of a major disaster. 

The NSF-supported NHERI cyberinfrastructure award continues to host online research and 

education tools for the natural hazards community at http://www.DesignSafe-ci.org. Publicly

available tools will include the Data Depot for archiving earthquake and wind engineering 

experimental data generated at the NHERI experimental facilities, computational modeling and 

simulation tools, and a post-disaster, RAPID Reconnaissance Integration Portal for archiving 

perishable geotechnical, structural, coastal, and social science data obtained during field work by 

researchers following an earthquake or windstorm event in the U.S. or abroad. 

NIST: Tornado Loads on Buildings. Under its Disaster Resilience Research Grants Program,

57

NIST funded a cooperative agreement with ARA titled Development of Tornado Design Criteria for 

Buildings and Shelters Subject to Tornado Induced Loads. The goal of this project is to develop 

improved wind loading criteria for structures to resist tornadoes. During fiscal year 2018, ARA 

worked with Western University’s Wind Engineering, Energy and Environment (WindEEE) Dome to 

design and conduct a large series of experiments in their new hexagonal wind tunnel. These 

experiments collected exterior surface and internal pressure data on building models subject to 

tornado-like vortices.

NSF: RAPID Awards - Collection of Perishable Data Following Windstorms. The NSF has a 

standing funding mechanism, e.g., the post-disaster, rapid response research (RAPID) mechanism, to 

57 National Institute of Standards and Technology. (2017). NIST Funds 12 Projects to Make Communities More Resilient to 

Disasters. Retrieved from https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2017/08/nist-funds-12-projects-make-communities-moreresilient-disasters
29

provide funding to researchers to collect perishable research data from the field after a significant 

windstorm or other hazard event. During fiscal years 2017-18, NSF made over 50 RAPID awards 

related to windstorms, such as: two awards, one related to Hurricane Irma and one related to 

Hurricane Matthew went to the University of Notre Dame; seven awards were in response to the 

effects of Hurricane Harvey; an award to Auburn University collected data on wind and surge 

induced residential building damage; one award to the University of Utah collected information on 

the trajectories of social vulnerability of the Houston area households through a study of pre- and 

post- events; and West Texas A&M University received an award to preserve 3D damage data for 

enhanced modeling of engineered steel structures on the Texas coast. This data can facilitate the 

analysis of steel for developing new fragility methods and provides a means to evaluate the 

effectiveness of wind design provisions along the U.S. coast.

NIST: Preliminary Reconnaissance Hurricane Deployments. T hrough collaboration between the 

Disaster and Failure Studies and NWIRP programs at NIST, research staff conducted preliminary 

reconnaissance missions to collect perishable data for three hurricanes in the fall of 2017. For 

Hurricane Harvey, reconnaissance teams were deployed to study 1) coastal wind and storm surge 

damage near landfall in Rockport, Texas, and 2) inland rainfall flooding impacts in the west Houston 

area. The coastal team co-deployed with FEMA’s preliminary MAT. One NIST staff member 

continued on to participate in the full MAT for Hurricane Harvey (see FEMA entry below). NIST 

sent two teams to Florida for Hurricane Irma, one focused on wind and storm surge damage in the 

Florida Keys and the other concentrating on a broader range of storm impacts across South Florida, 

including damage and loss of functionality of critical facilities due to interruption of lifeline utilities.

Two NIST teams also deployed to Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria, one embedded with and 

part of the full FEMA MAT (see below), and the other gathering data emergency communications 

and storm impacts on buildings, infrastructure, and communities.

FEMA: Mitigation Assessment Team Evaluations Following Major Hurricanes, Tornadoes and 

Windstorms. FEMA conducts building performance studies after unique or nationally significant 

disasters to better understand how natural events affect the built environment. A MAT is deployed 

only when FEMA finds damage and believes the findings and recommendations derived from field 

observations and analysis will provide design and construction guidance that will improve the 

disaster resistance of the built environment in the affected State or region and will be of national 

significance to other disaster-prone regions. The MAT studies the adequacy of current building 

codes, local construction requirements, building practices, and building materials in light of the 

damage observed after a disaster. Lessons learned from the MAT’s observations are communicated 

through a comprehensive MAT Report, Recovery Advisories, and Fact Sheets made available to 

communities to aid their rebuilding effort and enhance the disaster resistance of building 

improvements and new construction. In fiscal years 2017-18, FEMA deployed MATs for Hurricanes 

Harvey, Irma, and Maria in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and follow-on 

work related to previous MATs is ongoing. Subsequent MAT reports were published for each 

location that include findings from the MAT investigations along with conclusions and 

recommendations for preventing damage.

• FEMA P-2020, Mitigation Assessment Team Report: Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 

Puerto Rico.
30

• FEMA P-2021, Mitigation Assessment Team Report: Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 

the U.S. Virgin Islands. 

• FEMA P-2022, Mitigation Assessment Team Report: Hurricane Harvey in Texas.

• FEMA P-2023, Mitigation Assessment Team Report: Hurricane Irma in Florida.

NIST: Hurricane Maria Program: In fiscal year 2018 NIST completed initial planning for a multiyear investigation of the impacts of Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico, including projects focused on

damage to critical facilities (schools, hospitals, and shelters) and the role of infrastructure in their 

support, e.g., delivering power and telecommunications services to a hospital. The findings will be 

part of a final report, which will include recommendations for changes to codes, standards and 

practices for the purpose of increasing community resilience in the face of hurricanes. 

NSF: Infrastructure Resilience. The electric power infrastructure in the United States, especially in 

coastal areas, faces substantial risk from wind hazards. Through an NSF Faculty Early Career 

Development Program (CAREER) award,

58 researchers at Iowa State University are investigating the 

underlying design and assessment of transmission line systems to increase resiliency of electric 

power networks under windstorm effects. This research is investigating key attributes contributing to 

the resiliency of transmission systems within electric power networks and is developing riskinformed design methodology to increase this resiliency. Another NSF-supported project at the 

University of Chicago and the University of Wisconsin-Madison is increasing resilience and 

efficiency of electric power and computing infrastructures by understanding how to exploit and 

maximize emerging relationships between the two structures. Research on computing and power 

grids will lead to improved resilience and efficiency enabling better windstorm design of power and 

computing infrastructures. 

FHWA: Full Scale Measurement of Structural Dynamic Properties. In an ongoing program to 

characterize the dynamic properties of bridge stay cables – which are critical to structural 

performance and aerodynamic stability – the analysis of data from full-scale, forced vibration tests on 

selected major structures continued during fiscal years 2017-18. Tests had been previously 

performed on the Zakim (Massachusetts), Emerson (Missouri), and Penobscot Narrows (Maine) 

bridges. During this reporting period, a technical report59 on the Emerson study was published and a 

technical report60 on the Zakim study finalized in preparation for publication. These reports 

document the behavior of large, ungrouted bridge cables and illustrate the effectiveness of cross ties 

as a mitigation measure. 

Information collected during the tests has enabled further evaluation of design details and assessment 

of the effectiveness of various mitigation measures such as dampers, cross ties, and aerodynamic 

surface treatments. The information also serves as a benchmark that will be useful during later 

inspections to assess the bridge’s structural condition and overall health. 

58 National Science Foundation. Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER). 

https://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=503214 59 Bosch, H.R. and Pagenkopf, J.R., U.S. Departmnet of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration. (2018). Dynamic 

Properties of Stay Cables on the Bill Emerson Bridge. Report No. FHWA-HRT-17-037. 60 Bosch, H.R. and Pagenkopf, J.R., U.S. Departmnet of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration. Dynamic Properties 

of Stay Cables on the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge. Report No. FHWA-HRT-xx-xxx. (Pending Publication).
31

FHWA: Physical Modeling of Wind Effects on Highway Structures. 

In collaboration with the National Research Council of Canada (NRCC) and in cooperation with the 

University of Stavenger in Norway, wind tunnel tests were performed (during the previous reporting 

period) at NRCC on small-scale section models representative of “out-of-round” bridge stay cables. 

Static tests were performed in simulated wind conditions over a broad range of wind speeds to 

evaluate the influence of cable roundness on overall performance and aerodynamic stability. During 

the current reporting period, a comprehensive technical report61 was finalized for publication. As 

noted in the report, the imperfect shape of high-density polyethylene pipe (HDPE) used on bridge 

stay cables can play an important role in the aerodynamic stability and performance of cables. To 

further investigate this area of wind and cable interaction, dynamic wind tunnel tests and numerical 

simulations were planned for and completed in the current reporting period and a comprehensive 

report62 was prepared. The design of these tests required information regarding the roundness of 

typical HDPE used in bridge construction. To obtain this information, detailed field measurements 

had to be undertaken at select bridge sites and an automated robotic device was designed and 

fabricated for this purpose. A comprehensive report63 on robot development and results of the fullscale cable test program (mentioned in the previous section) was finalized during this performance 

period. In addition, four technical papers documenting the results of this research on bridge stay 

cables were presented at and published in the proceedings of an international symposium. 

Large Variable Message Signs can and have exhibited sensitivity to the effects of wind and truck gust 

loadings resulting in performance problems and structural failures. Wind tunnel testing in the FHWA 

Aerodynamics Laboratory and computational modeling in the Argonne National Laboratory are 

ongoing. Traffic signal standards and high light towers have also exhibited sensitivity to the effects 

of wind and structural failures have been observed. Research on this subject has been conducted 

under the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP), and American Association of 

State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) standard specifications for these structures 

have been significantly updated. To evaluate and further build upon these improvements in design, 

analysis of measurements from wind tunnel testing in the FHWA Aerodynamics Laboratory has been 

resumed. During this reporting period, analysis of data from more than 100 section models of multisided, tapered cylinders (representative of components from highway support structures) has 

continued and a report is in preparation.

Objective 6: Develop computational tools for use in wind and flood modeling on buildings and 

infrastructure

NSF: NHERI Computational Modeling and Simulation Center. The goal of the NSF-supported 

five-year NHERI Computational Modeling and Simulation Center (SimCenter) is to provide the 

natural hazards engineering research and education community with access to next generation 

61 Christiansen, H. and Larose, G.L. U.S. Departmnet of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration. (Pending 

Publication). Wind Tunnel Investigations of the Aerodynamics of Bridge Stay Cable Cross-Sectional Shapes. Report No. 

FHWA-HRT-xx-xxx. 62 Larose, G.L., Stoyanoff, S., and Dunn, B., U.S. Departmnet of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration. (Pending 

Report). Aerodynamic Stability of Bridge Stay Cables – Dynamic Tests and Simulations. Report No. FHWA-HRT-xx-xxx. 63 Bosch, H.R. and Pagenkopf, J.R., U.S. Departmnet of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration. Development of a 

Cable Robot and Measurement of Stay Cable Roundness. (Pending Publication). Report No. FHWA-HRT-xx-xxx.
32

computational modeling and simulation software tools, user support, and educational materials 

needed to advance the nation's capability to simulate the impact of natural hazards on structures, 

lifelines, and communities. These simulations will help users make informed decisions about the 

need for and effectiveness of potential mitigation strategies. Many of these tools have been made

publicly available on the NHERI CI's DesignSafe-ci.org Discovery Workspace during fiscal years 

2017-18. The SimCenter provides computational modeling and simulation tools using a new open 

source simulation framework that addresses various natural hazards, including windstorms and storm 

surge.

NIST: Science-Based Methodologies for Aerodynamic Simulation to Determine Wind Loads on 

Buildings and Structures. NIST is engaged in an effort to develop practical Computational Fluid 

Dynamics (CFD) methods for the numerical determination of aerodynamic forces on structures 

induced by strong winds. Such methods have the potential to produce more accurate, site specific 

wind loads, resulting in safer and more economical structures. During fiscal years 2017-18, NIST 

performed a review of recent meteorological studies on turbulent atmospheric flows and their 

numerical modeling, and on the structural engineering consequences of those studies.

64 NIST 

developed a physics-based methodology for simulating turbulent atmospheric flows for structural 

engineering applications,

65 and established its effectiveness through comparisons with turbulent flows 

defined in standards and achieved in wind tunnel simulations.

66

To begin developing methods for reliable prediction of pressures on bluff bodies, NIST employed 

state-of-the-art turbulence models to simulate flow past a square cylinder under smooth flow67 and 

evaluated the sensitivity of the aerodynamic pressures to simulation parameters using experimental

design techniques.

68 NIST performed wind tunnel tests to support the validation of pressures in the 

CFD simulations.

FHWA: Numerical Modeling of Wind Effects on Highway Structures. During fiscal years 2017-

18, existing interagency agreements continued between the U.S. Department of Transportation and 

the U.S. Department of Energy for modeling the effects of natural hazards, such as windstorms, 

hydraulics, and flooding, on infrastructure. The agreements have enabled FHWA to utilize highperformance computing and support staff from the Argonne National Laboratory (ANL). Resources 

located at the TRACC are being used to model wind effects on highway users as well as highway 

structures. Research has continued in this area to further refine and streamline the model to develop a 

“virtual wind tunnel,” that will complement physical testing facilities. A comprehensive technical 

64 Simiu, E., Shi, L., and Yeo, D. (2016). Planetary Boundary-Layer Modelling and Tall Building Design. Boundary-Layer 

Meteorology, 159(1), 173-181. 65 Shi, L. and Yeo, D., National Institute of Standards and Technology. (2016). OpenFOAM Large-Eddy Simulations of 

Atmospheric Boundary Layer Turbulence for Wind Engineering Applications. NIST Technical Note 1944. Retrived from

http://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/TechnicalNotes/NIST.TN.1944.pdf

66 Yeo, D. and Shi, L. (2016). Large-Eddy Simulation of Atmospheric Boundary Layer Winds for Structural Engineering 

Applications. Engineering Mechanics Institute Conference 2016 & Probabilistic Mechanics & Reliability Conference 2016, 

Nashville, Tennessee, May 22-25, 2016. 67 Ke, J and Yeo, D. (2016). RANS and Hybrid LES/RANS Simulations of Flow over a Square Cylinder. Eighth International 

Colloquium on Bluff Body Aerodynamics and Applications, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, Jun. 7-11, 2016. 68 Mac Réamoinn, R. and Yeo, D. (2016). A Practical Verification and Validation approach for Computational Wind 

Engineering Simulations Using an Experimental Design Technique. Eighth International Colloquium on Bluff Body 

Aerodynamics and Applications, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, Jun. 7-11, 2016.
33

report69 was published in fiscal year 2017. This improved model is being tested and validated using 

results of physical tests in the laboratory.70 ANL staff is developing tools that have been used to 

develop and refine models to study the interaction of wind with inclined bridge stay cables as well as 

wind (or truck-induced gust) interaction with large message sign and signal structures. FHWA and 

ANL staff have also developed a computational model for studying the wind “shielding” effects of 

large bridge towers on trucks crossing elevated bridge structures.

71

NIST: Tools for Analysis of Measured Wind Pressure Data. NIST is developing next-generation 

methods and tools to better characterize wind loads on buildings and structures. Progress during 

fiscal years 2017-18 included improvements in analysis methods for wind pressures on building 

components and cladding. An improved procedure and software for estimating peaks of stationary 

wind pressure time series over time intervals longer than the scaled-up duration of wind tunnel tests 

was developed using the peaks-over-threshold method, including determination of the optimal 

threshold level and quantification of uncertainties inherent in the estimates.

NIST: Coastal Inundation Events in Developed Regions. NIST issued a grant to Oregon State 

University under the NIST Disaster Resilience Grants Program and the University of Notre Dame to 

develop practical methodologies to determine how storm waves and tsunamis vary in built 

environments when compared to the ‘bare earth’ methodologies presently in use. Progress on this 

front has the potential to greatly improve predictions of wave and tsunami loading in developed 

regions, which will help both design and planning. Work is underway to bring all of the results 

together to strengthen buildings at risk of collapse from storm waves and tsunamis. NIST and 

partners are also preparing laboratory experiments to validate numerical simulations of wave 

inundation and loading. The experiments are being conducted during fiscal year 2018 at the Oregon 

State University O.H. Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory.

Objective 7: Improve understanding of economic and social factors influencing windstorm risk 

reduction measures 

NSF: Support for Windstorm Impact Reduction – Economic and Social Factors: In fiscal years 

2017-18, NSF made numerous awards that will advance knowledge on economic and social factors 

influencing risk reduction measures. A wide range of NSF programs have supported this research. 

Individual programs fund projects through their open undefined competitions. For example, the 

Sociology Program funded research on messages that explain mitigation decisions related to wind 

hazards among different populations. In another project aimed at understanding why almost half of 

the deaths from tornadoes involve residents of mobile homes, NSF funded work at the University of 

South Carolina exploring the residents’ attitudes and beliefs regarding sheltering, with the goal of 

developing and testing communications leading to better informed sheltering decisions. 

69 Sitek, M.A., Lottes, S.A., and Bojanowski, C., Argonne National Laboratory. (2017). Air Flow Modeling in the Wind Tunnel 

of the FHWA Aerodynamics Laboratory at the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center. Report No. ANL/NED/17/2 . 70 Sitek, M.A. and Lottes, S.A., Argonne National Laboratory. (2018). CFD Simulation of Wind Tunnel Tests of the Deer Isle –

Sedgwick Bridge Model. Part 1. Static Tests. Report No. ANL/NED/18/1. 71 H.R. Bosch and N. Zhang, U.S. Departmnet of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration. (Pending Publication). CFD 

Simulation and Evaluation of Bridge Tower and Deck Wake Effects on the Stability and Safety of Traffic. Report No. FHWAHRT-xx-xxx.
34

Individual NSF programs can use the RAPID mechanism to provide immediate funding for projects 

that involve ephemeral data (and therefore cannot be funded through a standard competition).

Individual programs also co-fund projects as more than one NSF program reviews proposals 

submitted in open undefined competitions. For example, the Economics Program and the Decision, 

Risk and Management Sciences Program combined to support a project on understanding the 

influence of economic and other incentives on wind hazard mitigation decisions. An NSF-supported 

project at the Louisiana State University is studying the role of social media in disaster resilience. 

Knowledge gained from the project will help develop strategies to create effective social media 

campaigns and emergency management practices to promote resilience to wind storms. 

Special competitions provide another mechanism by which NSF supports research on Windstorm 

Impact Reduction. During fiscal years 2017-18, the Critical Resilient Interdependent Infrastructure 

Systems and Processes (CRISP) competition supported a project at the University of Illinois at 

Urbana-Champaign focusing on human-sensor data for characterizing windstorm damage. This 

project is addressing how to quantify the confidence in crowdsourced damage assessment and 

designing a tool for reliable crowdsourcing given unreliable participants. Through the use of citizen 

science crowdsourcing, rapid identification of damage areas could help decision makers allocate 

resources for response and recovery efforts. This rapid response allows for targeted damage 

assessments which can improve the design of buildings in regions susceptible to windstorms. The 

final results of this research will be shared with NOAA to be used in surveyor training to assess wind 

damage and for public tutorials. 

Through the core NSF program Human, Disasters, and the Built Environment (HDBE), an award to 

the University of Colorado, Boulder is developing two new platforms and corresponding networks to 

help researchers respond to and overcome long standing challenges in the advancement of the hazards 

and disaster field. The Social Science Extreme Events Reconnaissance (SSEER) and the 

Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Extreme Events Reconnaissance platforms will leverage 

databases and information resources to build capacity of the social science, engineering, and 

interdisciplinary hazards and disaster research communities to conduct post-disaster reconnaissance. 

NIST: Longitudinal Study of the Recovery of Lumberton, NC, from Hurricane Matthew: In 

early October of FY 2017, Hurricane Matthew crossed North Carolina as a Category 1 storm, with 

some areas receiving 0.38 m to 0.46 m (15 to 18 in) of rainfall on already saturated soil. The NIST 

funded Center for Risk-Based Community Resilience Planning teamed with researchers from NIST’s 

Engineering Laboratory to conduct field studies focused on impacts of the Lumber River flooding in 

Lumberton, North Carolina. Lumberton is a racially and ethnically diverse community with higher 

than average poverty and unemployment rates, a typical civil infrastructure for a city of 22,000 

residents, and a city council form of government. The longitudinal field study is focused on 

documenting the impacts and subsequent recovery processes of the local community following the 

FY 2017 riverine flooding in Lumberton. 

This type of interdisciplinary longitudinal research is critical to better understand community 

processes in the face of disasters and ultimately provide data and inform best practices for enhancing 

resilience to natural hazards in U.S. communities. The initial data collection in early FY 2017 had 

two major objectives: (1) document initial conditions after the flood for the longitudinal study of 
35

Lumberton’s recovery, with a focus on improving flood-damage and population-dislocation models, 

and (2) develop multidisciplinary protocol providing a quantitative linkage between engineeringbased flood damage assessments and social science-based household interviews that capture socioeconomic conditions (e.g., social vulnerabilities related to race, ethnicity, income, tenancy status, and 

education levels). The second data collection effort in FY 2018 focused on documenting the recovery 

of housing, businesses, and the public sector in Lumberton.

NIST: Hurricane Maria Program – Economic and Social Factors: In fiscal year 2018, NIST 

began collecting data and started planning for a multi-year study of the impacts of Hurricane Maria 

on Puerto Rico. There are two projects within the Hurricane Maria Program that will attempt to 

identify the linkage(s) between economic and social functions and windstorm impact reduction. 

• Recovery of Critical Social Functions: This project will identify the underlying 

characteristics and conditions associated with recovery of critical social functions in Puerto 

Rico and will examine the recovery trajectories of sampled schools and hospitals. This 

project may also include investigation of the interdependencies of the households and the 

social functions provided by schools and hospitals.

• Business Interruption and Supply Chain Recovery: Provide greater understanding of business 

continuity resilience planning and supply chain continuity and how this may differ between 

industries and affected regions. Additionally, understanding the relationship between these 

areas of economic significance to the social functions and the infrastructure that supports 

them will help strengthen business continuity in the future.

Objective 8: Develop tools to improve post-storm impact data collection, analysis, and archival

NSF: Rapid Response Research Facility. The NHERI post-disaster, RAPID facility (see also 

Strategic Priority 3 and Objective 5 of the NWIRP Strategic Plan) provides many resources to 

improve post-windstorm data collection, analysis, and archival, including: (1) a portfolio of state-ofthe-art data collection tools (including geomatics technologies; image capture and laser scanning 

equipment; seismological, wind, and inundation instruments; and unmanned aircraft systems, among 

others); (2) new software tools to aid in data collection and processing; (3) education, outreach, and 

training services; (4) advisory services to assist reconnaissance teams with the planning of safe and 

successful field missions for data collection; and (5) a headquarters that includes a 3D mini Computer 

Automated Virtual Environment (CAVE) for viewing and preliminary analysis of the various forms 

of image data collected during field campaigns. 

As a community resource, the facility: (1) supports acquisition of an unprecedented amount of 

perishable, post-disaster, high-quality, open data by the natural hazards community; (2) provides

learning and training opportunities in post-disaster reconnaissance; (3) promotes public engagement 

with science and technology through a citizen science data collection initiative; and (4) develops new 

and strengthens existing international research partnerships by establishing collaborations with 

foreign organizations during global deployments. In addition to the RAPID facility, the 
36

Reconnaissance Portal on the NHERI CI’s DesignSafe ci.org website72 collects and categorizes data 

within a geospatial framework.

During fiscal years 2017-18, the Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign, University of Colorado at Boulder, and University of California-Los Angeles received 

awards to the Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER) Post Disaster Reconnaissance. 

Since 2015, GEER has documented the geotechnical effects of 18 extreme events, including 

hurricanes Irma and Harvey, among others. The GEER Post Disaster Reconnaissance will work with 

the NSF RAPID facility to coordinate critical activities including development and delivery of 

training efforts. It will continue to perform the primary objectives: documenting geotechnical effects 

of important extreme events to identify important topics in need of research; employing innovative 

technologies for post-event reconnaissance; and advancing the capabilities of individuals performing 

research based on field observations.

NIST: Post Disaster Data Collection with UAV’s. NIST funded a project through a Disaster 

Resilience Grant, titled “Improving Disaster Resilience Through Scientific Data Collection with 

UAV Swarms.” The award supports the development of swarms of small-unmanned aerial vehicles 

(sUAVs) equipped with lightweight navigation and sensing instruments that can detect the health of 

critical infrastructure before, during and after a natural disaster. The methodology developed through 

this multi-disciplinary effort will transform health diagnostics approaches, by swiftly providing the 

right type and quantity of trusted field data, needed in support of science-based decision making. The 

ability to disperse and coordinate unmanned airborne sensor systems to support perishable data 

collection will amplify the potential of sUAVs for the collection of data in otherwise inaccessible 

regions impacted by a hazard. The methodology is extensible to a variety of intelligent multi-sensing 

health diagnostic systems. 

Objective 9: Develop advanced risk assessment and loss estimation tools 

NSF: Hurricane Resilience of Electric Power Transmission Infrastructure. An NSF-supported 

project at Purdue University is developing a new risk assessment method to investigate the 

complexities associated with linking outages to societal costs due to extreme events. This method 

will help estimate the risk of major power outages, estimate compounding economic losses due to 

infrastructure failure from power outages, and optimize techniques for determining best practices for 

addressing uncertainties. 

FEMA: Maintain Hazus-MH Hurricane Loss Estimation Model. FEMA develops and maintains 

the Hazards – U.S., Multi-Hazard model (Hazus), a nationally applicable standardized methodology 

that contains models for estimating potential losses from multiple hazards, including hurricane winds. 

Hazus uses geographic information system (GIS) technology to estimate physical, economic, 

infrastructure, and social impacts of disasters and graphically illustrates communities of high-risk due 

to a region’s hazards. Users can then visualize the spatial relationships between populations and 

other more permanently fixed geographic assets or resources for the specific hazard being modeled, a 

crucial function in the mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery phases of the emergency 

management decision making process. Based on substantial damage inspections and observed 

72 National Science Foundation, DesignSafe-CI, NHERI. Cyberinfrastructure Description. https://www.designsafeci.org/community/cyberinfrastructure/
37

damages from Hurricanes Irma and Maria, FEMA is currently researching new wind damage 

estimation formulas representative of building construction practices common in Puerto Rico and the 

U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI). This will increase the accuracy of FEMA’s Hazus loss estimations for 

Puerto Rico and USVI for future storms and will also benefit other FEMA risk reduction 

programs. FEMA is also researching cloud computing technologies to decrease processing times 

required for future hurricane response Hazus loss estimation efforts.

NOAA: State of Florida Public Hurricane Loss Model. NOAA continued to work with the state 

of Florida during fiscal years 2017-18 on the Florida Public Hurricane Loss Model (FPHLM). The 

FPHLM is an open, transparent computer model that is used by the Florida Office of Insurance 

Regulation to provide a baseline for evaluating rate change requests for windstorm insurance. The 

FPHLM is the first such model that enables all of the results and details from the modeling approach 

to be open to scrutiny. The model’s engineering component estimates damage to residential 

structures within Florida zip codes and an actuarial component then estimates the insured loss. The 

average annual loss is then estimated statewide for every zip code in Florida. NOAA researchers at 

the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) and the Cooperative Institute 

for Marine and Atmospheric Studies partnered with the Florida International University researchers 

during the relevant fiscal period to update and maintain the wind model within the FPHLM. In fiscal 

years 2017-18, researchers started the implementation of changes to the FPHLM (Flood Hazard 

Model) that was necessary to comply with the Report of Activities (ROA) 2017 Flood Standards. 

Changes to the FPHLM (Wind Hazard Model) were made to meet the ROA 2017 Standards; this 

includes an update to the ZIP Code centroids and roughness databases, and an update to the 

probability distribution functions to reflect changes and revisions to the revised Atlantic hurricane

database (HURDAT2). Analysis of major Hurricanes Irma and Michael that affected Florida in 

2017/2018 are underway. 

NOAA: Develop a Tornado and Severe Thunderstorm Impact Estimation Model. In FY 2017-

18 NOAA/NWS Storm Prediction Center continued its ongoing development of a nationally 

applicable standardized method that contains models for probabilistically estimating aggregate 

potential impacts from tornadoes. This model, called IMPACTS (Integrated Machine-based 

Predictive Analytics of Convective Threats to Society), creates estimates of physical and societal 

impacts of tornadoes. Work is ongoing to extend IMPACTS to include severe thunderstorm wind 

and hail.

GOAL C. IMPROVE THE WINDSTORM RESILIENCE OF COMMUNITIES NATIONWIDE

Objective 10: Develop tools to improve the performance of buildings and other structures in 

windstorms 

NSF: Structural Extreme Events Reconnaissance. An NSF-funded project at the University of 

Notre Dame is operationalizing a network to coordinate the structural engineering research 

community’s rapid response to natural disasters across the country. The goal of the Structural 

Extreme Events Reconnaissance (StEER) is to collect perishable extreme event data that can be used 

for subsequent research investigations to reduce risks to civil infrastructure and promote national 

welfare by saving lives and reducing property losses in future disasters. StEER work will be 
38

coordinated with the NHERI RAPID facility, GEER, SSEER, and CONVERGE, and the data will be 

available on the NHERI DesignSafe Reconnaissance Portal.

NIST: Database-assisted Design. Database-assisted design (DAD) methods can provide more 

accurate results than more simplified procedures in building codes and standards. During the current 

reporting period, a methodology and software were developed to directly calculate member demandto-capacity indexes used in sizing structural members of rigid structures, using as input extreme wind 

speeds and aerodynamic pressure time histories available in wind engineering databases. A novel 

DAD computational framework applicable to flexible structures experiencing significant windinduced dynamic effects was also developed.73

Objective 11: Support the development of windstorm-resilient standards and building codes 

NIST: Translating R&D Advances into Model Building Codes and Standards. During fiscal 

years 2017-18, NIST developed an improved set of design basis wind speed maps for wind design of 

buildings and other structures in the United States and worked with the American Society of Civil 

Engineers (ASCE) and the International Code Council (ICC) to have these maps incorporated into 

ASCE 7-16 standards and IBC-2018 building codes. Additionally, NIST developed a set of 

probabilistic tornado hazard maps for the contiguous United States for use in tornado-resistant design 

of buildings and other structures. NIST is actively working with the Wind Load Sub-Committee of 

the ASCE 7 standards committee to have these tornado hazard maps incorporated into ASCE 7-22 to 

facilitate tornado-resistant design for the first time in the U.S.

FEMA: Improving Wind-Resistant Provisions. During fiscal years 2017-18, FEMA continued to 

work with its partners to develop and incorporate high-wind-resistant provisions and requirements in 

the Nation’s model building codes and standards. Working with other federal agencies, state and 

local governments, building regulators, building industry groups, and other entities, FEMA advocated 

for specific changes to increase wind-resistant requirements of the following building and structural 

codes: International Building Code (IBC), International Residential Code (IRC), International Code 

Council’s Storm Shelter Standard (ICC 500) and Residential High Wind Standard (ICC 600), and 

other industry regulations such as ASCE 7. As a result of these efforts, buildings are being built 

stronger, reducing the risks of death, injury, and property loss from high-wind storms.

In addition to championing improvements to the wind-resistant provisions of the IBC, FEMA 

develops supporting commentary and improvements to reference standards for wind-resistant design. 

FEMA supported the development of provisions for designing for tornado wind loads in ASCE 7 and 

the next edition of the ICC 500: Standard for the Design and Construction of Storm Shelters (see SP7). FEMA continues to work with NOAA, NIST, and ASCE to create a tornado wind speed 

estimation standard (see Objective 2). FEMA will continue these and other efforts to improve windresistant provisions of codes and standards.

73 Park, S. and Yeo, D., National Institute of Standards and Technology. (2016). Database-Assisted Design and Second-Order 

Effects on the Wind-Induced Structural Behavior of High-Rise Steel Buildings. NIST Technical Note 1940. Retrived from 

http://ws680.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=921073
39

FHWA: Development of Design Guidelines and Specifications. Research continued in fiscal years 

2017-18 on the issue of wind- and rain-induced vibration of bridge stay cables. Results of research 

on bridge cables have been made available to the Post-Tensioning Institute’s DC-45 Cable-Stayed 

Bridge Committee for consideration during periodic updates of their guide specification on cables. 

During this reporting period, FHWA continued to work closely with the Transportation Research 

Board (TRB) on the project NCHRP 12-111 “Evaluating the Effectiveness of Vibration Mitigation 

Devices for Structural Supports of Signs, Luminaires, and Traffic Signals.” FHWA also worked with 

TRB on the project NCHRP 15-67 “Improved Methodology to Accurately Determine Wind Drag 

Coefficients for Highway Signs and Their Support Structures.” Both projects are aimed at updating 

American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Load and 

Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) Specifications for Structural Supports for Signs, Luminaires, and 

Traffic Signals (AASHTO LRFD SLTS Specifications).

Objective 12: Promote the implementation of windstorm-resilient measure

FEMA: Wind Resistant Construction. FEMA Building Science has promoted long-term wind 

resiliency in the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) and Puerto Rico following major disaster declarations 

after Hurricane Irma (DR-4335) and Hurricane Maria (DR-4340) for the U.S. Virgin Islands, and 

Hurricane Irma (DR-4336) and Hurricane Maria (DR-4339) for Puerto Rico, through products which 

will strengthen the resiliency of structures against windstorms. These products provided 

understanding and recommendations for wind mitigation and building science guidance. FEMA 

assisted the USVI in updating the residential home guidance document, Construction Information for 

a Stronger Home (4th Edition) which is relied upon by locals for home construction. The latest 

edition will provide local designers and builders with a reference point for increased wind loads and 

prescriptive details to apply in their design and construction projects. This product promotes the 

implementation and usage of the latest model building code wind provisions as provided in the 2018 

International Building Code and 2018 International Residential Code. FEMA delivered successful 

trainings and subject matter consultation within USVI and Puerto Rico to educate governmental and 

private groups on wind hazards and mitigation with courses discussing residential coastal 

construction, wind retrofit, safe rooms, and fundamentals of building science. Also, FEMA provided 

topographic wind maps which can be used to determine wind loads. 

Objective 13: Improve windstorm forecast accuracy and warning time

NOAA: Hurricane Forecast Improvement Program. NOAA established the 10-year Hurricane 

Forecast Improvement Project (HFIP) to accelerate the improvement of forecasts and warnings of 

tropical cyclones and to enhance mitigation and preparedness by increased confidence in those 

forecasts. Specific goals include reducing hurricane track and intensity errors by 20% in 5 years and 

50% in 10 years and extending the useful range of hurricane forecasts to 7 days. Under HFIP, there 

have been significant improvements to NOAA’s operational hurricane prediction model, the 

Hurricane Weather Research and Forecasting (HWRF) system, resulting in increased accuracy in the 

model-based guidance for tropical cyclone intensity predictions. In fiscal year 2017, HFIP continued 

to provide funding to numerous efforts within NOAA, other federal agencies, and universities to 

support the development, testing, and evaluation of an enhanced HWRF model prediction system, 

better use of existing observations, evaluation of new potential observations, and support for 
40

improved forecasting techniques. Sustained developments in the HWRF system led to further 

improvements in intensity predictions. These upgrades resulted in further improvements in model 

intensity guidance in nearly all basins. The operational HWRF was the best deterministic intensity 

forecast model in the Atlantic basin. It outperformed statistical models based on climatology. 

Preliminary assessment of NWS NHC performance in the Atlantic average track forecast errors were 

near or a little below the 5-year (2013-2017) mean errors through 48 hours, with the largest 

improvement seen at 36 and 48 hours where the 2018 average errors were nearly 10% below the 5-

year means. NHC's track forecast errors were slightly above the 5-year mean errors at days 3-5. 

NHC's preliminary Atlantic intensity errors for 2018 were generally lower than the 5-year means, 

except at 72 hours. The largest reduction in errors was seen at day 4, where the 2018 errors were 

about 15% below the 5-year averages, and at day 5, where the 2018 errors were more than 20% 

below the 5-year mean.

Shifting to the NWS Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC), a preliminary assessment of their 

performance in the Central Pacific average track forecast errors were below the 5-year (2011-2015) 

mean errors through 120 hours, with the largest improvement seen at 96 and 120 hours where the 

2018 average errors were nearly 40% and 30% below the 5-year means, respectively.

NOAA: Joint Hurricane Testbed. During fiscal year 2017, the U.S. Weather Research Program 

within the NOAA Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research Office of Weather and Air Quality 

supported six new projects conducted at the Joint Hurricane Testbed (JHT) in Miami, Florida – a 

NOAA testbed jointly managed by the NHC and AOML. These projects involved testing of new 

techniques, applications, and ensemble model enhancements to improve the analysis and prediction 

of tropical cyclones. The JHT is designed to transfer new technology, research results, and 

observational advances by partnering researchers from the academic community, federal agencies, 

and other groups with hurricane forecasters at the NHC throughout the entire project. These new 

projects represent a wide range of partners from academia (University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, 

Florida State University, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Mississippi State, Colorado State 

University, and Florida International University), and U.S. government laboratories (NOAA's 

Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere and Northern Gulf Institute). 

NOAA: Intensity Forecasting Experiment. NOAA's Hurricane Research Division continues to 

improve hurricane-intensity forecasting. The Intensity Forecasting Experiment (IFEX) is collecting 

observations that span the tropical cyclone (TC) life cycle in a variety of environments for 

improvements in the next-generation Hurricane Weather Research and Forecasting Model; 

developing and refining measurement strategies and technologies that provide improved real-time 

monitoring of TC intensity, structure, and environment; and improving the understanding of physical 

processes important to intensity change for a TC at all stages of its life cycle. Measurable progress is 

occurring in TC intensity forecasts as a result of these efforts. When possible, IFEX partners with 

other federal agencies such as NASA, Office of Naval Research (ONR), and NSF to accomplish a 

more complete sampling of TC structure and intensity. In combination, these agencies deployed 

multiple aircraft over a 45-day period during the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season to gather 

robust and complementary data sets. These innovative interactions provide the opportunity for 

extensive monitoring of tropical cyclones undergoing significant changes in their structure and 
41

intensity such as Hurricanes Matthew in 2016, and Irma and Maria in 2017. The NOAA P-3 Orion74

and the Gulfstream IV-SP (G-IV) research aircraft75 gathered mission critical data that were 

implemented in the operational hurricane weather research model. Prior to making landfall, the 

NOAA P3 aircraft successfully launched six unmanned aircraft called Coyote into Hurricane Maria. 

The Coyote collected data in the lowest part of the atmosphere, as low as 300 feet above the ocean 

surface. 

NOAA: Warn-on-Forecast. NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) is working with 

the NWS to develop a new vision for the watch-to-warning decision process, which is aimed at 

increasing the continuity, timeliness, and specificity of high-impact weather information available to 

users during this time frame. This effort includes increasing tornado warning lead time, reducing the 

false alarm ratio, and providing reliable probabilistic hazard information that users of local warnings 

can use in formulating a best response for their situation. Toward this end, NSSL scientists and 

collaborators are developing an on-demand, probabilistic, fine resolution weather model-based 

analysis and forecast system. The NSSL continues to investigate various model parameterization 

schemes, impacts of assimilating radar data, satellite data and other observations on the veracity of 

forecasts. 

In fiscal years 2017-18, the NSSL began working within NOAA testbeds and with operational units 

to evaluate an experimental Warn on Forecast1(WoF) methodology, allowing forecasters to use 

thunderstorm-resolving computer models to guide severe weather outlooks, forecaster discussion

products, and probabilistic short-term forecasts for tornadoes, winds, hail, and flash floods to advance 

from what is possible today with the current Doppler radar systems. Evidence suggests that these 

enhancements to operational weather capabilities will lead to a more accurate warning system, 

increase lead time, and provide probabilistic information to the public to support risk-wise actions 

during severe weather events. The WoF program is being conducted in collaboration with the NOAA 

Earth System Research Laboratory Global Systems Division (ESRL/GSD), the NWS Environmental 

Prediction Center, the NWS SPC, the NWS Weather Prediction Center, and the NWS Forecast Office 

in Norman, Oklahoma (OUN).

NOAA: Hazardous Weather Testbed. In FY 2017-18, NOAA’s NSSL, SPC, and OUN continued 

joint testing of new techniques and applications for enhancing forecasts and warnings of hazardous 

weather – particularly thunderstorms and their attendant damaging winds, hail, and tornadoes. This 

work has been conducted in the NOAA Hazardous Weather Testbed (HWT), which is designed to 

accelerate the transition of promising new meteorological insights and technologies into advances in 

forecasting and warning for hazardous mesoscale weather events throughout the United States. The 

NOAA/NASA Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite – R Series Proving Ground also 

conducts experiments within the HWT and the University of Oklahoma's Center for Analysis and 

Prediction of Storms to provide key contributions each spring during peak severe weather season. 

Several collaborative experiments are conducted in the HWT each year, typically involving multiple 

external partners such as the NCAR, the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, other universities, 

74 National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Institute. P3 Orion research airplane. 

https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/projects/torus/p3.php 75 National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Institute. NOAA IV- SP Gulfstream Jet. 

https://www.omao.noaa.gov/learn/aircraft-operations/aircraft/gulfstream-iv-sp-g-iv 
42

various NOAA agencies, broadcast meteorologists, emergency managers, private industry, and 

leading research scientists and forecasters from around the world.

NOAA: Forecasting a Continuum of Environmental Threats (FACETs). NOAA tested a 

prototype of the FACETs Probabilistic Hazard Information (PHI) tool with forecasters, broadcast 

meteorologists and emergency mangers in the 2017 and 2018 HWT experiments. Forecasters 

evaluated 4-hourly probabilistic calibrated hazard guidance and produced their own warning-scale 

PHI for tornadoes, lightning and severe thunderstorms utilizing the prototype tool. Broadcast 

meteorologists and emergency managers received the warning-scale PHI while performing typical

job functions in simulated work environments. A primary result was that the FACETs paradigm 

enabled NWS forecasters to provide a continuous flow of information that provided significant 

benefits to decision making. PHI was also found to provide a more focused alert area than the current 

storm-based polygon warning system, with less false alarm area in proximity to the hazard area and 

more lead time for the projected path of threat (i.e., warnings extend farther than polygon). It was 

also noted that forecasters can have difficulty issuing probabilistic forecasts at warning scales 

because of a lack of calibration and comprehension, such that a human-machine mix is crucial for 

producing warning scale PHI. 

NOAA: High-Resolution Rapid Refresh Model and the Rapid Refresh Model. There is a 

longstanding need for higher-resolution weather models to increase accuracy of local forecasts for 

emergency managers, air traffic managers, renewable energy producers, wildfire managers, and 

others. To fulfil this need, scientists at the NOAA ESRL/GSD developed a radar-initialized, stormresolving, high-resolution, hourly-updating assimilation and modeling system known as the HighResolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) model to advance the prediction of weather changes in the 

environment. The HRRR provides hourly weather updates at 3 km resolution (i.e., a 3.5 square-mile 

area), which increases the protection of lives and property, helps to improve the efficiency and 

effectiveness of wind and solar energy of the U.S. energy sector, and provides air traffic managers 

with rapidly updated projections of developing severe weather. 

Version 2 of the HRRR was implemented in NWS operations in late fiscal year 2016 and continued 

to provide benefits during the reporting period. This significant upgrade increased the use of satellite 

data, ingests new data from lightning sensors, radar, surface stations, and cloud observations, and 

extends hourly forecasts to 18 hours. Following version 2, HRRR Version 3 has improved simulation 

of convective storms and clouds, reduced high bias for precipitation in both warm and cold seasons, 

improved 2-m temperatures including over snow cover, extended length to 36 hours four times per 

day, and coverage over Alaska. 

The Rapid Refresh Model (RAP) is a coarser version of the HRRR assimilation and modeling system, 

providing forecasts for the North American domain and updated hourly. The RAP provides the 

boundary conditions used to execute the HRRR model Version 3 of the RAP, was implemented in 

NWS operations in fiscal year 2016 and included a larger domain and hourly forecasts out to 21 

hours. Building on these enhancements, RAP version 4 (RAPv4) was implemented into operations 

with the HRRR model on July 12, 2018. RAPv4 improves the depiction of cloud fields and reduces a 

high precipitation and reflectivity bias most notable during the first several forecast hours. It also 

extends forecast guidance out to 39 hours four times daily.
43

Objective 14: Improve storm readiness, emergency communications and response

NOAA: StormReady Program. The StormReady program supports a Weather-Ready Nation 

(WRN) by preparing communities for the occurrence of high impact environmental events. On an 

annual basis NOAA/NWS targets 100 new StormReady communities pending funding availability. 

In FY18 there were 136 new StormReady communities recognized. S tormReady supports NWS’ 

disaster risk reduction strategy and is offered to provide guidance and incentive to emergency 

management officials who want to improve their hazardous weather and flood operations. A longterm goal for the program is to make every county or county-equivalent in the United States 

StormReady. The 2010 U.S. Census identified 3234 county or county-equivalents in the United 

States. During the reporting period, we were 44 percent of the way there with 1425 county or countyequivalents recognized as StormReady. Overall, there are nearly 2900 communities recognized as 

StormReady in the U.S.

NOAA: Forecasting a Continuum of Environmental Threats (FACETs). As part of ongoing 

research in support of the FACETs paradigm, NOAA has supported a baseline watch, warning and 

advisory WWA survey to assess current methods of communicating threats to the public. This survey 

included a systematic analysis of previous research on tornado warning reception, comprehension, 

and response (database of 108 studies). New measures were developed and tested for tornado 

warning reception, comprehension, and response in a pilot survey of about 3,000 Oklahomans.

Results of the pilot survey were then used to develop and field a corollary national survey tailored to 

provide a demographically representative result. This survey found that a large majority of 

respondents did understand the basics of the current tornado WWA system, but regional differences 

were noted and details of the WWA system such as warning sizes and times were less well 

understood. This survey also provided important baseline information about how the public 

understands probabilistic information and might interpret future hazard information based on PHI.

NIST: Emergency Communications. NIST conducts emergency communication research to 

develop the measurement science that provides the foundation for national codes, standards, and/or 

guidance on the creation and dissemination of clear, consistent, and accurate emergency 

communications for tornadoes. NIST’s current focus is on development of evidence-based guidance 

for communities on the creation and provision of public alerts, including both outdoor siren (warning) 

systems and social media (including mobile alerts). Progress in fiscal year 2017 included: 1) a 

published review of outdoor siren systems: a review of technology, usage and public response during 

emergencies;

76 and 2) a NIST- and Fire Protection Research Foundation-sponsored workshop for 

those with responsibilities/roles as communicators (e.g., National Weather Service warning 

coordination meteorologists, emergency management coordinators, public information officers, press 

secretaries, and engagement specialists) from locations across the U.S. to provide feedback on NISTdeveloped interim guidance on the usage of short message alerting systems (e.g., Wireless 

Emergency Alerts [WEAs] and Twitter). Progress in fiscal year 2018 included: 1) a published review 

76 Kuligowski, E., and Wakeman, K., National Institute of Standards and Technology. (2017). Outdoor Siren Systems: A 

Review of Technology, Usage, and Public Response During Emergencies. NIST Technical Note 1950. 

https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/TechnicalNotes/NIST.TN.1950.pdf
44

of the public’s response to short message alerts under imminent threat;

77 2) a published guidance 

document on alerts issued by outdoor siren and short message alerting systems;

78 3) newly developed 

short message templates for 280-character and 360-character WEA messages, with Jeannette Sutton, 

from the University of Kentucky’s Communication Department, and 4) proposed incorporation of 

guidance on the usage of outdoor siren systems and short message alerting systems for the next 

edition (2019) of NFPA 1600: Standard on Disaster/ Emergency Management and Business 

Continuity/Continuity of Operations Programs.

5. The Path Forward The next step for NWIRP is to implement the Strategic Plan. Implementation activities may include the 

following elements:

• Develop technical information and support research to improve surface wind measurements in 

extreme windstorm events. NWIRP’s post storm coordination and assessment activities continue 

to document serious technical and logistical issues with the Nation’s wind observation 

capabilities in extreme windstorms, especially during landfalling hurricanes. A lack of high 

resolution, continuous measurements of surface wind speeds inhibits our understanding of 

extreme wind effects on the built environment. 

• Develop plans, budgets and project milestones for baseline studies on loss of life and property 

due to windstorms, including identification of causes, trends, and factors underlying the trends in 

windstorm fatalities and property damage. When funding becomes available this effort will 

provide improved methods and data for tracking future windstorm impacts and will enable further 

identification and prioritization of NWIRP research and development, technology transfer, and 

outreach activities, once the key drivers of fatalities and losses are better understood.

• Engage in measurement science research to better understand the characteristics and utility of 

space-based precipitation measurement platforms in landfalling hurricanes to support post 

windstorm investigations and overall windstorm disaster risk reduction. Rainfall in landfalling 

hurricanes causes more than three times as many fatalities as wind. However, different landbased measurement systems may produce highly variable rainfall estimates in hurricane disasters, 

complicating flood and landslide assessments and attribution. 

• Expand engagement with federal agencies and stakeholder organizations, including other levels 

of government, academia and the private sector.

• Enhance stakeholder communication, through creation of a mobile-friendly Program website, 

newsletters, and increased participation in windstorm-related conferences and other appropriate 

events.

77 Kuligowski, E., and Doermann, J. (2018). A Review of Public Response to Short Message Alerts under Imminent Threat.

NIST Technical Note 1982. Retrived from https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.TN.1982 78 Kuligowski, E., and Kimball, A. (2018). Alerting under Imminent Threat: Guidance on Alerts Issued by Outdoor Siren and 

Short Message Alert Systems. NIST Technical Note 2008. Retrived from https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.TN.2008
45

Lastly, it should be noted that while the Strategic Plan addresses the key elements necessary to 

achieve major measurable reductions in the losses of life and property from windstorms, progress on 

implementation of the Plan and the rate of future Program accomplishments are highly dependent on 

the level of resources available to NWIRP agencies.
46

Appendix A: Acronyms

AMS - American Meteorological Society

AOML - Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory 

ASCE - American Society of Civil Engineers

ASHRAE - American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers 

CFD - Computational Fluid Dynamics

CIMAS - Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies

CPI - Consumer Price Index

DHS - Department of Homeland Security

DOE - Department of Energy

EF - Enhanced Fujita Scale

FEMA - Federal Emergency Management Agency

FHWA - Federal Highway Administration

FLASH - Federal Alliance for Safe Homes

GSA - General Services Administration

Hazus® - Hazards U.S., a Geographic Information System (GIS)-based natural hazard analysis tool 

developed and distributed by FEMA

Hazus®-MH - Hazus Multi-Hazard

HUD - Department of Housing and Urban Development

HWT - Hazardous Weather Testbed

IBC - International Building Code

IBHS - Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety

ICC - International Code Council

IEBC - International Existing Building Code

LiDAR - Light Detection and Ranging

MAT - Mitigation Assessment Team

NACWIR - National Advisory Committee on Windstorm Impact Reduction

NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NCAR - National Center for Atmospheric Research

NEHRP - National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program

NHERI - Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure

NIST - National Institute of Standards and Technology

NOAA - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

NPDIA - National Plan for Disaster Impact Assessments

NRC - Nuclear Regulatory Commission

NSF - National Science Foundation

NSSA - National Storm Shelter Association

NSTC - National Science and Technology Council

NVOAD - National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters

NWIRA - National Windstorm Impact Reduction Act of 2004

NWIRP - National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program

NWS - National Weather Service

OMB - Office of Management and Budget 

OSTP - Office of Science and Technology Policy

PBD - Performance-Based Design

R&D - Research and Development

SDR - Subcommittee on Disaster Reduction 

USACE - U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

USGS - United States Geological Survey
47

VA - U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

WG/DIAP - Working Group for Disaster Impact Assessments and Plans

WWG - Windstorm Working Group
48

Appendix B: NWIRP Agency Statutory Responsibilities

Tables B.1 through B.4 provide a mapping from the statutory responsibilities (42 U.S.C. § 15703) of the 

four Program agencies to the Strategic Plan goals, objectives, and Strategic Priorities. Many other 

activities within the Program agencies, conducted under different statutory authorities, also support the 

NWIRP mission and specific goals and objectives. For example, while NOAA’s assigned NWIRP 

responsibility is atmospheric science research (Table B.3), many other NOAA activities provide critical 

support for windstorm impact reduction, such as storm data collection and archival, forecasting, warning 

communications, and education and outreach programs. Other Program Agency capabilities beyond those 

supporting the statutory responsibilities will be engaged by NWIRP as needed.

Table B.1: Federal Emergency Management Agency 

Program Agency Responsibilities Strategic 

Plan Goal

Strategic Plan 

Objective

Strategic 

Priority SP #

Support development of risk assessment tools and effective mitigation 

techniques. 42 U.S.C. § 15703(b)(5)(A)(i).

B 9

1, 7

C 10

Support windstorm-related data collection and analysis. 42 U.S.C. § 

15703(b)(5)(A)(ii).

A 2, 4

B 7, 8, 9 2, 3

C 12

Support public outreach and information dissemination. 42 U.S.C. § 

15703(b)(5)(A)(iii). C 12, 14 6, 7, 8

Support promotion of the adoption of windstorm preparedness and 

mitigation measures, including for households, businesses, and 

communities, consistent with the Agency’s all-hazards approach. 42 

U.S.C. § 15703(b)(5)(A)(iv).

C 12, 14 6, 7

Work closely with national standards and model building code 

organizations, in conjunction with NIST, to promote implementation 

of research results and promote better building practices within the 

building design and construction industry, including architects, 

engineers, contractors, builders, and inspectors. 42 U.S.C. § 

15703(b)(5)(B).

C 11, 12, 14 4, 7
49

Table B.1: National Institute of Standards and Technology

Statutory Responsibilities Strategic 

Plan Goal

Strategic 

Plan 

Objective

Strategic 

Priority SP 

#

Lead Agency Responsibilities

Ensure the program includes necessary components to promote implementation of 

windstorm risk reduction measures by federal, State, and local governments, 

national standards & model building code organizations, architects and engineers, 

and others with roles in planning & constructing buildings & lifelines. 42 U.S.C. § 

15703(b)(1)(A).

All All All

Support development of performance-based engineering tools, & work with 

appropriate groups to promote commercial application of such tools, including 

wind-related model building codes, voluntary standards, and construction best 

practices. 42 U.S.C. § 15703(b)(1)(B).

C 11, 12 4, 5

Request assistance of federal agencies other than the program agencies, as necessary 

to assist in carrying out the Act (Program). 42 U.S.C. § 15703(b)(1)(C). All All All

Coordinate all federal post-windstorm investigations, to the extent practicable. 42 

U.S.C. § 15703(b)(1)(D).

A 2

3

B 8

When warranted by research or investigative findings, issue recommendations to 

assist informing development of model codes & inform Congress on use. 42 U.S.C. 

§ 15703(b)(1)(E).

C 11 4, 7

Program Agency Responsibilities

In addition to the Lead Agency responsibilities, carry out R&D to improve model 

building codes, voluntary standards, and best practices for design, construction, and 

retrofit of buildings, structures, and lifelines. 42 U.S.C. § 15703(b)(2).

A 1, 2, 4

B 5, 6, 8, 9 All

C 10, 11

Table B.2: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Program Agency Responsibilities Strategic 

Plan Goal

Strategic 

Plan 

Objective

Strategic 

Priority 

SP #

Support atmospheric sciences research to improve understanding of behavior of 

windstorms and their impact on buildings, structures, and lifelines. 42 U.S.C. § 

15703(b)(4).

A 1, 2, 3, 4

1, 2, 3, 8

B 5, 6, 8

Table B.3: National Science Foundation

Program Agency Responsibilities Strategic 

Plan Goal

Strategic 

Plan 

Objective

Strategic 

Priority 

SP #

Support research in engineering and atmospheric sciences to improve understanding 

of behavior of windstorms and their impact on buildings, structures, and lifelines. 42 

U.S.C. § 15703(b)(3)(A).

A 1, 2, 3, 4 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 

B 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 8

Support research in economic and social factors influencing windstorm risk 

reduction measures. 42 U.S.C. § 15703(b)(3)(B).

B 7, 8 1, 3, 8 C 10, 11, 12
50

Appendix C: NWIRP Coordinated Budget

The fiscal year 2019 NWIRP Coordinated Budget, provided below, was submitted to Congress on May 7, 

2018.

Background on the NWIRP Coordinated Budget Report

The National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program (NWIRP) was established by Congress in 2004 

“...to achieve major measurable reductions in the losses of life and property from windstorms through a 

coordinated Federal effort, in cooperation with other levels of government, academia, and the private 

sector, aimed at improving the understanding of windstorms and their impacts and developing and 

encouraging the implementation of cost-effective mitigation measures to reduce those impacts.” 42 

U.S.C. § 15703(a).

The National Windstorm Impact Reduction Act Reauthorization of 2015 (PL 114-52) requires submission 

of a coordinated NWIRP budget to Congress each fiscal year within 60 days after the date of the 

President’s budget submission.79 Descriptions of the planned activities for each of the four program 

agencies (National Institute of Standards and Technology, National Science Foundation, National 

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Federal Emergency Management Agency) are provided 

below, and the associated budget requests are listed in the attached table.

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 

NIST has been designated as the Lead Agency for NWIRP through the enactment of PL 114-52 on 

September 30, 2015. As such, NIST’s responsibilities include both leadership and technical activities. 

Planned Lead Agency activities include: 

• Plan and coordinate NWIRP, in cooperation with other federal agencies and the broader 

stakeholder community; and

• Coordinate all federal post-windstorm investigations, to the extent practicable. 

Planned technical activities include: 

• Initiate efforts on the NIST Technical Investigation of the effects of Hurricane Maria on the U.S. 

territory of Puerto Rico. The goals of the investigation will be to characterize: (1) the wind 

environment and technical conditions associated with deaths and injuries; (2) the performance of 

representative critical buildings, and designated safe areas in those buildings, including their 

dependence on lifelines; and (3) the performance of emergency communications systems and the 

public’s response to such communications;

• Continue development of performance-based design approach for wind hazards;

• Develop computational wind engineering capability for simulating wind pressures on simple 

prismatic shapes, as the first step towards simulation of wind loads on real structures;

• Continue development of tornado hazard maps for use in design of buildings and structures;

• Continue work on development of site-specific risk estimation tools for assessment of joint 

hurricane hazards of wind, storm surge, and waves;

• Subject to the availability of funds, solicit grant proposals for research aimed to improve 

resilience of buildings and infrastructure against windstorm hazards, including storm surge.

79 42 USC 15703(e)(7). 
51

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 

NOAA activities fall under two categories: hurricane-related and locally severe weather activities. 

Planned hurricane related activities include the following:

• Continue the Hurricane Forecast Improvement Project;

• Operate the National Hurricane Center Joint Hurricane Testbed; and

• Operate the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory Hurricane Research 

Division.

Planned locally severe weather activities include the following:

• Operate the Storm Prediction Center, including Hazardous Weather Testbed;

• “Warn on Forecast” Development;

• Operate the National Severe Storms Laboratory Tornado and Severe Weather Research;

and

• Operate the Earth Systems Research Laboratory, Global Systems Division, including 

High-Resolution Rapid Refresh forecasts.

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) 

FEMA receives no appropriated funding for specific wind related projects. However, FEMA leverages 

available resources as appropriate to support NWIRP goals and objectives. The values shown in the 

budget report table represent an estimate of the leveraged resources. 

A high-level summary of the wind related activities FEMA Building Science has or will be pursuing 

includes: post-windstorm related data collection and analysis; development of risk assessment tools and 

guidance for effective mitigation; integration of mitigation measures into consensus codes and standards; 

and public outreach, training, and information dissemination consistent with the Agency’s all-hazards 

approach.

National Science Foundation (NSF)

The National Science Foundation will support research in engineering and the atmospheric sciences to 

improve the understanding of the behavior of windstorms and their impact on buildings, structures, and 

lifelines; and research in the economic and social factors influencing windstorm risk reduction measures. 
52

NWIRP Budget Report for Fiscal Year 2017 Actual, Fiscal Year 2018 Actual, 

and Fiscal Year 2019 Enacted

Windstorm ($K)

FISCAL 

YEAR 2017 

Actuals

FISCAL 

YEAR 2018

Actuals

FISCAL 

YEAR 2019

Enacted

NIST 3,475 6,612 5,696

NOAA 15,444 18,804 20,504

NSF 9,682 9,682 9,682

FEMA 450 300 300

Total Windstorm 29,051 35,398 36,182