²©ÌåÓý

In support of ²©ÌåÓý forecasters and their partners, the ²©ÌåÓý is upgrading its chat service to improve reliability, security and expand functionality.

After analysis of digital messaging tools available on the marketplace, the collaboration platform, Slack, was selected for a pilot demonstration which took place over the past year and proved successful. On July 12, 2022 ²©ÌåÓý signed a contract to use Slack as the next generation of the ²©ÌåÓýChat service. Slack will serve as both a forecast collaboration and communication platform, allowing ²©ÌåÓý forecasters to discuss and share information with each other and core partners during high impact weather.

Agency forecasters developed ²©ÌåÓýChat to expand their ability to communicate weather observations and forecast information with emergency managers and other core partners. Since ²©ÌåÓýChat launched more than a decade ago, demand and usage has exploded, far exceeding the tool’s capacity and leading to frequent outages.

The transition from ²©ÌåÓýChat to Slack will include building ²©ÌåÓý-specific functionality, testing and training for ²©ÌåÓý employees and the thousands of external ²©ÌåÓýChat collaborators in the emergency management, public safety, meteorology and broadcast sectors.