ing the uncertainty associated with that forecast, resulting in poor decisions being made by the public, government, and industry leaders.

Oklahoma-Kansas Tornado Outbreak, May 3, 1999 (presented by Howard Bluestein, James Lee, and Margaret LeMone). This record-breaking severe weather outbreak illustrates the complexity of communicating weather information in a rapidly evolving, short-time-frame situation and the importance of doing so to save lives. It illustrates the benefit of effective partnerships among the public, private (especially the media), and emergency management communities.

El Niño 1997–1998 (presented by Stanley Changnon, Steven Clifford, James Laver, and Robert Weller). The 1997–1998 El Niño was the first major seasonal climate event to occur after the state of the science provided the weather and climate community with sufficient capability to provide a forecast. The case examines methods of presentation of the forecasts, presentation to and reception by certain government and user groups such as the emergency management community in Southern California, and the public’s perception of the event. It illustrates several aspects of the communication of climate information and the confusion that can occur between climate and weather.

Climate Change Science: An Analysis of Some Key Questions, June 2001 (presented by Eric Barren, William Randel, and Vaughan Turekian). This discussion summarizes a report produced by the National Research Council at the request of the White House that attempted to provide the administration with answers to questions of climate science related to greenhouse gases and global warming. It illustrates the importance of preparing for public communication when designing a study.

Although any number of examples could have been selected for study, these five were chosen because of the breadth of the time scales of the events, the degree to which they have been documented, and the interest and involvement of the workshop participants.

To ensure that each case study focused on communication of meteorological information, the presenters were asked to use a standard framework and describe each of the cases in terms of

• Who?

• Said what?

• When?

• To whom?

• How? and

• With what effect?