NOAA’s National Hurricane Center has joined the conversation on Twitter
@Firestormsol will be following the National Hurricane Center on Twitter and we hope you do as well!
NOAA’s National Hurricane Center has joined the conversation on Twitter, effective with the start of the Atlantic hurricane season on June 1.
As detailed by NWS and NOAA:
“NWS is exploring use of Twitter to provide microblogging services. Twitter is a commonly used social networking service that allows participants to share information with other users. Microblogging services like Twitter serve as an important source of real-time news updates. The short nature of updates allows users to post news items quickly, reaching their audience in seconds. Because microblogging services are two-way, readers of posts can reply to posts with various responses, such as a weather report with location, time and images/videos. For the NWS, aggregate analysis of this data provides information on storm evolution, and partner/public perceptions and response.
NWS has already experimented with collection of storm reports via Twitter (http://www.weather.gov/stormreports/) and is now beginning to explore the potential for use of Twitter to communicate weather information. Because exploration of possible use of Twitter cannot be done outside of the public Twitter environment, our prototyping efforts will be publicly visible.”
Read the full text and disclaimer here
Over the next several weeks, prototype Twitter feeds will be established for the following sites:
NWS Norman OK
NWS LMRFC (Lower Mississippi River Forecast Center)
NWS Pleasant Hill MO
NWS Salt Lake City UT
NWS Charleston SC
NWS Western Region
NWS Honolulu HI
NHC Atlantic | NHC Pacific – The National Hurricane Center will run 2 accounts, basin specific.
From NOAA:
The NHC presence on Twitter is a prototype to help decision-makers and the public receive notifications of the very latest on hazardous tropical weather systems. The addition of NHC’s voice via Twitter services to the social stream will enhance the ability of NHC and its partners to achieve their missions by building situational awareness, and allow for a broader reach of information to the public that it serves.
A tweet will be sent whenever NHC issues:
- A public advisory regarding a tropical cyclone (TCP)
- A tropical cyclone update (TCU)
- A position estimate (TCE)
- A tropical weather outlook (TWO)
Each tweet will contain a link to access the corresponding product on the NHC website. NHC can also tweet a special message at any time.
NHC has two Twitter accounts, one for the Atlantic basin (which includes the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea):
U.S. National Hurricane Center (Atlantic) – @NHC_Atlantic
and one for the Eastern North Pacific basin:
U.S. National Hurricane Center (Eastern Pacific) – @NHC_Pacific
In addition to the Twitter notifications, NHC also provides product notifications by email. Please visit hurricanes.gov/signup.shtml to sign up for this service.
“What should we do now?” “What should we say?”