Gabor Fricska, Lisa Vitols, Kent Johnson
Meteorological Service of Canada
Contact: gabor.fricska@ec.gc.ca
During the past two years members of the Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC) national service office have met with a variety of users to learn more about how they make critical weather related decisions. The users include officials from emergency management teams, public utilities, municipalities and aviation groups. The stories and discussions during these visits highlighted the universal need for more detailed precipitation forecasts. Current meteorological forecasts of precipitation were deemed too general by many of these decision makers. Participants have asked for more detail in the timing of the onset and duration of precipitation along with more detailed information on precipitation rate and precipitation amount. Of these factors, precipitation rate was identified as being particularly important because of its link with local flooding, municipal engineering design standards and public safety.