Human or Machine? How Much Difference in Understanding and Trust Does a Human Element Make in Storm Forecasts?

The past two Atlantic hurricane seasons have been among the most active in history. In the hurricane-prone southeast, broadcast meteorologists and emergency managers want their communities to both understand and trust the severe weather alerts they send out. This study examined how college students, a vulnerable population, view those messages. Results show students believed they understood, and actually did understand, messages with both human and graphics more than human only or graphics only. The human-graphics combination was also the most trusted of the three options. These findings suggest that not only is the human element important in emergency messages but students are also seeking out local television and meteorologists for their weather information more than the internet.