Modified project summary/abstract section the pacific disaster center (PDC) proposes to support the national weather service (NWS) in developing the baseline risk integration for decision guidance &…

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration awarded the University of Hawaii $968,776 under the Meteorologic and Hydrologic Modernization Development program (CFDA 11.467) on July 1, 2026, as a Project Grant.

The University of Hawaii will support the National Weather Service in developing the Baseline Risk Integration for Decision Guidance & Engagement (BRIDGE) framework, a scalable approach for assessing community preparedness, vulnerability, resilience, and risk at the county level. BRIDGE integrates hazard, demographic, infrastructure, social vulnerability, and preparedness data into a repeatable analytical framework to support Weather Forecast Office outreach, partner coordination, preparedness planning, and risk communication. The framework addresses a critical gap in current warning and hazard products by providing Weather Forecast Offices insight into underlying community risk drivers—such as demographics, infrastructure, transportation access, housing quality, healthcare access, communications capacity, and local emergency management capability—that drive different outcomes for communities facing similar weather hazards. The effort builds on the Pacific Disaster Center's existing operational capabilities, including DisasterAware and the All-Hazards Impact Model.

Performance runs from July 1, 2026 through December 31, 2027, with work performed in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Modified project summary/abstract section the pacific disaster center (PDC) proposes to support the national weather service (NWS) in developing the baseline risk integration for decision guidance & engagement (BRIDGE) framework, a scalable approach for assessing community preparedness, vulnerability, resilience, and risk at the county level. This effort directly aligns with the NWS mission to provide weather, water, and climate data, forecasts, warnings, and impact-based decision support services (IDSS) for the protection of life and property. By helping weather forecast offices (WFOS) better understand who is most vulnerable, which critical assets may be exposed, and where preparedness gaps exist, BRIDGE will strengthen nwss ability to support a weather-ready nation. Mission alignment: this effort directly supports the NWS mission to provide weather, water, and climate data, forecasts, warnings, and IDSS for the protection of life and property. IT advances weather-ready nation priorities by improving community-level understanding of vulnerability, strengthening preparedness engagement, enhancing risk communication, and enabling more targeted, equitable decision support for at-risk populations. Communities facing similar weather hazards often experience very different outcomes due to differences in demographics, infrastructure, transportation access, housing quality, healthcare access, communications capacity, and local emergency management capability. Current warning and hazard products do not always provide sufficient insight into these underlying community risk drivers. BRIDGE will help close this GAP by integrating hazard, demographic, infrastructure, social vulnerability, and preparedness data into a repeatable analytical framework that can support WFO outreach, partner coordination, preparedness planning, and risk communication. The proposed effort will build on pdcs existing operational capabilities, including disasteraware, the all-hazards impact model (aim), AI-assisted narrative generation, hazard finder, and pdcs national disaster preparedness baseline assessment (NDPBA) and global risk and vulnerability assessment (GRVA) methodologies. PDC will adapt these proven capabilities to the U.S. County context, developing preparedness and resilience indicators, county-level risk profiles, exposure summaries, prototype dashboards, disasteraware visualizations, and contextual summaries that translate complex data into clear, actionable information for NWS staff and partners. The project will include two major activities: framework and technical development, followed by pilot implementation and participatory validation. PDC will work with NWS, WFOS, emergency management partners, and other stakeholders to identify priority hazards, select representative pilot counties, validate indicators, review outputs, and refine methods. Pilot counties will represent diverse hazard profiles and geographies, such as hurricane-prone, flood-prone, wildfire-prone, heat-vulnerable, winter storm-prone, rural, tribal, coastal, underserved, or island communities. Expected outputs include a county-level preparedness and resilience framework, integrated datasets, aim-enabled exposure analysis, AI-generated community risk narratives, prototype dashboards and visualizations, pilot county assessments, stakeholder workshops, training materials, technical documentation, and a roadmap for future national scaling. The outcome will be a practical, repeatable framework that helps NWS move beyond hazard awareness toward community-specific, impact-based prioritization and more effective preparedness engagement.