[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 191 (Tuesday, October 4, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60128-60129]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-21518]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; Improving Knowledge About NWS Forecaster Core Partner Needs 
for Reducing Vulnerability to Compound Threats in Landfalling Tropical 
Cyclones Amid Covid-19

    The Department of Commerce will submit the following information 
collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for 
review and clearance in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995, on or after the date of publication of this notice. We invite the 
general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and 
continuing information collections, which helps us assess the impact of 
our information collection requirements and minimize the public's 
reporting burden. Public comments were previously requested via the 
Federal Register on July 19, 2022 (87 FR 43005) during a 60-day comment 
period. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public 
comments.
    Agency: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 
Commerce.
    Title: Improving Knowledge About NWS Forecaster Core Partner Needs 
for Reducing Vulnerability to Compound Threats in Landfalling Tropical 
Cyclones Amid Covid-19.
    OMB Control Number: 0648-XXXX.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Request: Regular submission (new information collection).
    Number of Respondents: 35.
    Average Hours per Response: 1 hour.
    Total Annual Burden Hours: 35 hours.
    Needs and Uses: The data collection is sponsored by DOC/NOAA/
National Weather Service (NWS)/Office of Science and Technology 
Integration (OSTI). Compound hazards, like tornadoes and flash floods 
(called TORFFs), are a significant issue for risk communication and are 
common in landfalling tropical cyclones. Currently, NOAA lacks data and 
data collection instruments that articulate and explain how emergency 
managers and broadcast meteorologists receive, interpret, and respond 
to NWS prediction information about these compound hazards before and 
during landfalling tropical cyclones, like Hurricane Ida. Furthermore, 
NOAA lacks adequate knowledge about how these risks are best 
communicated during pandemics such as COVID-19, when it is important 
for those who are most vulnerable to adjudicate their risks of exposure 
to both severe weather and COVID-19. Such knowledge about compound 
weather hazards would be particularly useful for NWS forecasters who 
communicate risk information to their colleagues in emergency 
management and broadcast meteorology (hereafter ``partners''), 
especially when information about sheltering practices, evacuation, and 
vulnerability can be complicated by exposure to public health threats 
and bilingual needs.
    Semi-structured interviews will be conducted with partners in local 
areas impacted by recent hurricanes with embedded TORFF hazards, such 
as Hurricane Ida and its remnants. Semi-structured interview data will 
be collected on a one-off basis and will be conducted either virtually 
or in-person (COVID-19 restriction dependent). Specific questions in 
the interview guide determine how partners attend to, prioritize, and 
communicate information related to compound wind and water threats 
before and during landfalling tropical cyclones or hurricanes.
    The interviews will be conducted by researchers at Texas Tech 
University's Risk and Equity in Disasters (RED) Lab and at Texas A&M. 
They have begun to develop data collection instruments that will allow 
them to gather risk information. These instruments are being created in 
collaboration with experts in emergency management and broadcast 
meteorology through the Board on Emergency Management and the Board on 
Professional Development within the American Meteorological Society. 
This helps assure the appropriateness of questions relative to 
different decision spaces, job roles, and communication processes.
    This data collection serves many purposes, including building 
knowledge of how partners attend to, make sense of, and communicate 
compound hazards, as well as challenges they face in identifying 
vulnerable populations to severe weather in the context of COVID-19. 
These data will be reported in aggregate when possible and findings 
will be used by the NWS training centers in Norman, OK, and Kansas

[[Page 60129]]

City, MO, to inform their practices for Impact-Based Decision Support 
Services (IDSS) and to improve the information and services it provides 
to members of the Weather Enterprise. Importantly, data collected will 
help assist NWS in developing new forecaster training modules, 
situational awareness information, and best practices for Impact-Based 
Decision Support with partners. This is a necessary step in improving 
risk communication among expert groups, which, in turn, benefits 
vulnerable populations who ultimately must act quickly and safely to 
adjudicate which risks pose the greatest threat to them as the threats 
evolve. Data collected from both populations will also be used for the 
practical utility of the government through semi-annual reports to NOAA 
to evaluate proposed metrics of success for completing the grant 
relative to progress to data. Conference presentations about findings 
will be made to the American Meteorological Society, National Weather 
Association, and related emergency manager conferences; webinars of 
best practices and situational awareness opportunities to partner or 
NWS offices; and insights about the challenges of communicating and 
preparing the public for compound hazards reported to peer reviewed 
publications in professional journals.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations; State, 
Local, or Tribal government; Federal government.
    Frequency: One time.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Legal Authority: 15 U.S.C. chapter 111, Weather Research and 
Forecasting Information.
    This information collection request may be viewed at 
www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view the Department of 
Commerce collections currently under review by OMB.
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be submitted within 30 days of the publication of 
this notice on the following website www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. 
Find this particular information collection by selecting ``Currently 
under 30-day Review--Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search 
function and entering the title of the collection.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information 
Officer, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2022-21518 Filed 10-3-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-KE-P