In the conclusion to the “Chancing the Storm” series, Heather Lazrus, Jennifer Henderson, and Julie Demuth describe the Scholarly Borderlands project, its goals, and how it gave rise to the series. In a number of collaborative panels presented at the American Meteorological Society’s annual meeting, presenters engaged with the question of how the multilayered aspects of uncertainty influence severe weather events. Speaking to weather prediction and communication specialists, these social scientists challenged the weather and climate communities to engage with the complexity their audiences face, and in particular, not to make assumptions about the homogeneity of those audiences. Attendees agreed more work needs to be done to make forecasting and hazard technical information more legible, and actionable, for communities at risk. We hope this series is a step in that direction.
Julie Demuth
Julie Demuth is a research scientist at NCAR’s Mesoscale and Microscale Meteorology (MMM) Lab with the Weather Risks and Decisions in Society (WRaDS) research group. She has worked for 13 years on integrating social science research with the meteorological research and practitioner communities. With a hybrid background in atmospheric science and in communication, Demuth conducts research on hazardous weather risk communication, risk perceptions, and responses; her work is with both experts, such as weather forecasters, and members of the public. Her work centers on understanding how forecast information, in conjunction with other factors, influence what people think and feel and how they respond. Demuth received her BS in meteorology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and her MS in atmospheric science and PhD in public communication and technology from Colorado State University.