This edition first published 2018
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This book began as an effort to support and amplify two ambitious efforts that were passionately dedicated to changing the way that the social sciences and atmospheric sciences collaborate to improve weather forecasting effectiveness, reduce the number of lives lost to severe weather, and to develop a cadre of hybrid socio‐meteorologists. The two main efforts toward these goals were the WAS*IS movement (Weather and Society * Integrated Studies) and the SSWIM or Social Science Woven into Meteorology program. When funding for both of these programs ended and I faced the prospect that this textbook would need to be historical and not totally optimistic, progress on this book slowed. The book retains a cautiously optimistic tone even though a close examination in 2017 reveals that atmospheric scientists, without a clear understanding of or appreciation for social science, are doing most of the talking at the intersection of weather and society and there are only a handful of examples of woven collaborations between atmospheric scientists and social scientists.
My graduate school mentor and advisor, Dr. Gilbert F. White, inspired me. Gilbert’s brilliance had powerful policy implications for natural hazard mitigation at the local, state, federal, and international levels, and his tireless persistent dedication to bringing all stakeholders, researchers, and students together for decision making kept me focused on getting this book finished. I began my career studying the behavior of people during the 1976 Big Thompson flood in Colorado (Gruntfest, 1977) and the flash flood research led to a broader passion for understanding flash floods and warnings nationally and internationally (Gruntfest and Handmer, 2001). Forty years later, I am still highly motivated and engaged with ways to improve flash flood warnings.
Completing this book required lots of help. I appreciate the feedback and support throughout my career and in the creation of this book of Sandrine Anquetin, Rachael Ballard, Chip Benight, Julia Becker, Eric Beteille, Enrica Caporali, Francesca Carli, Kim Carsell, Julie Demuth, Gina Eosco, Micky Glantz, Neil Gordon, John Handmer, Mary Hayden, Bob Henson, Stephanie Hoekstra, Bill Hooke, David Johnston, Ilan Kelman, Matt Kelsch, Kim Klockow, Emily Laidlaw, Linda Layne, Heather Lazrus, Cedar League, Diana Liverman, Celine Lutoff, Brenda Mackie, Vinodhini Mathiyalagan, Beth Mitchneck, Burrell Montz, Rebecca Morss, Ellen Nelson, Amy Nichols, Lori Peek, Brenda Philips, Andrea Ray, Valerie Ritterbusch, Paola Salio, Celeste Saulo, Lucy Sayer, Fiona Seymour, Andrea Schumacher, Russ Schumacher, Hatim Sharif, Marshall Shepherd, Bill Siembieda, Priya Subbrayal, Bella Talbot and Molly Wingate. My dearest friends, Sarah Christensen, Fanette Pollack, Andrea Herrera, Karen Breunig Hine, Claire Sheridan, and Marc Weber, relentlessly encouraged me to finish this project.
The book is dedicated to the formal and informal WAS*ISers who continue to attempt to weave social science into the fabric of the weather enterprise. I hope this book provides a jumping off point for additions and modifications by new brave generation of scholars, practitioners and charismatic policy entrepreneurs including Simone Balog, Kenny Blumenfeld, Dereka Carroll‐Smith, Julia Chasco, Renee Curry, Greg Dobson, Tanja Fransen, Jen Henderson, Eric Holthaus, Rebecca Jennings, Aisha Owusu, Amber Silver Nelson, Daniel Nietfeld, Justin Nobel, Vahid Rahmani, Isabelle Ruin, Jason Samenow, Jen Spinney, Galetia Terti, Chris Uejio, and Charlie Woodrum. These scholars and others are tirelessly leading efforts to integrate social science into atmospheric science, despite limited formal credit for this work from their employers or advisors.
This textbook is the culmination of four decades of collaborations to meet the challenges of natural hazard mitigation. My own contributions came from the social science and societal impacts perspectives. I hope the publication of this book formally marks the end of the era of social science as merely an “add‐on” to meteorology.
Until 2005, my expectations for genuine integration of social science into meteorological research and practice were low. I was content to know that at least the words "social science" or "societal impacts" were being considered. I was pleased to be invited to workshops, conferences, short courses, and meetings to be a social conscience. When the presentations went over well, I would be invited back for a similar presentation the following year. Meteorologists would agree that someone should do the social science related to meteorology but no one in particular was volunteering.
I gave dozens of invited talks all over the world. The talks were usually scheduled at the end of a session or a course. While societal impacts and the “so what” part of forecasting and new technologies were acknowledged, the commitment to addressing more than the physical science and engineering was superficial. There was no funding or actual integration of social scientists on research teams. My presentations were not an integrated part of larger research and practice for the physical scientists and engineers in the classes. I always happily fulfilled my role as an add‐on social scientist to whatever was the main course, workshop, or conference topic. An egregious example was when I was invited to Germany to provide societal impacts dimensions to the 10‐year Mescoscale Alpine Programme (http://www.map.meteoswiss.ch/). Only after a decade of research did the team invite in a few social scientists to provide the “so what” part of the massive experiment. Looking back on my career, preparing to retire from my position as a geography professor, I recognized that, as an add‐on social scientist, my work had not made changes in how atmosphere science was being conducted.
Now my expectations for the integration of atmospheric science and the social sciences are higher. The roots of WAS *IS and this textbook can be traced to visiting scientist opportunities I had to work with atmospheric science teams at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and at the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado in the 1990s and early 2000s. I picked up some of their language and concerns of atmospheric scientists that led to grant writing collaborations. In 2012 and 2013, I was invited to serve as a program officer at the National Science Foundation in the Atmospheric and Geospace Division of the Geosciences Directorate. That appointment is one demonstrable piece of evidence among many that there has been movement for the atmospheric sciences to formally appreciate what a social scientist can offer.
So it is with this renewed encouragement that this book lays some groundwork for further integration of social science with atmospheric science. This is just a beginning. Once these two kinds of scientists learn to truly work together, then the real business can begin of more accurately and effectively explaining weather events so that people can respond appropriately and in time.