Construal of situational risk and outcomes—Exploring the use of weather radar displays with residents of the Tampa Bay region

Participants described in their own words what they were viewing while using a radar display and reported what hazards they expected at the study location. Many partici-pants associated the occurrence of lightning or strong winds with "red" and "orange" reflectivity values on a radar display. Participants provided valuable insight into what was and was not found useful about certain radar displays.

We also found that most participants overestimated the amount of time they would have before precipitation would begin at their loca-tion. Overall, weather radar was found to be a very useful tool; however, judging spatial and temporal proximity became difficult when storm motion/direction was not easily identifiable. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: The purpose of this study is to understand how and why individuals use weather ra-dar and to discover what makes radar a useful tool.

We were particularly interested to explore how distance and time are thought about when using radar. We found that radar is generally a useful tool for decision-making except when a storm event was stationary. Participants use their personal experiences and knowledge of past weather events when they use a radar display.

We also discovered that deciding how much time is available before rain occurs is often overes-timated. These findings are helpful to understand how individuals use weather radar to make decisions that may help us to better understand protective action behavior.