In early October, NWSO Melbourne surveyed television weathercasters and county emergency management officials in our County Warning Area (CWA) to determine the effectiveness and public impact of the MLB Total Lightning Initiative (TLI).

Almost all respondents reported seeing an increased emphasis in lightning safety from NWS MLB this past summer. Changes were noted in the Area Forecast Discussion (AFD) and the Hazardous Weather Outlook (HWO). These products are issued early in the day usually before thunderstorms have formed along the seabreeze boundries. Television weathercasters and emergency management personnel looked to the products to tell them where and when the primary weather threat of the day would exist. They found it useful to know when the most dangerous weather element to expect that date would be lightning.

Of all the television and emergency management people surveyed, there was almost total agreement that the term lightning storm was a positive enhancement to the usual vocabulary used by the NWS in a typical summer thunderstorm scenario. When asked what information the term lightning storm conveyed, most stated that it placed an added emphasis on the element of the thunderstorm that posed the greatest threat to life and property especially in Florida. Many of the respondents reported adding the term lightning storm to their personal and on-the-air vocabulary.

Most people were aware of NWS MLB's enhanced terminology regarding the relative frequency of lightning ground strikes from individual storms. Some could not recall the exact terminology we used but they were aware that the short term forecast contained real-time information that alerted the public to storms that were producing excessive amounts of lightning. A number of emergency management people and television weathercasters stated that they took the information, whether it was in a descriptive or quantitative form (strikes per minute,) and alerted the public that there was an increased lightning danger with these storms. One person particularly remembered a short term forecast where we had alerted the public to thunderstorms producing excessive lightning in the Walt Disney World attractions area.

Most people surveyed were also aware of our attempt to relay information to the public about bolts from the blue, that is, lightning that extends a significant distance from the rain area of a parent thunderstorm. One television meteorologist has begun reminding the public of lightning dangers that exist well before and after the rain area of a thunderstorm passes.

It was apparent that the overall response to our Total Lightning Initiative was dependent on the respondents' awareness of ongoing weather events. Those whose interests or profession required them to remain on top of current breaking weather situations were very familiar with NWS Melbourne's Total Lightning Initiative. We feel that these are the people that can assist the NWS in increasing public awareness about lightning and help us get useful information to the public that can save lives.