General Manager City of Los Angeles EMD Los Angeles, California, United States
Since late 2022, the City of Los Angeles has managed a continuous sequence of high-impact weather events. This cycle--including extreme rainfall, firestorms, landslides, a tornado, and the first Tropical Storm Warning in Southern California history--demanded an evolution in how meteorological services support local operations. To protect four million residents, the National Weather Service and the Los Angeles City Emergency Management Department have standardized a model where Impact-Based Decision Support Services routinely become embedded into the City's command structure. This partnership ensures that meteorological expertise directly informs City-led operations, including the timing of evacuation orders and the deployment of life-safety missions.
This session analyzes the partnership in Los Angeles, which also can serve as a scalable model for urban resilience in other major metropolitan areas. This partnership is being leveraged to meet unique safety requirements surrounding the forthcoming, multiyear cycle of international events in Los Angeles through 2028, including the FIFA World Cup and Olympic and Paralympic Games. The session will also highlight the significance of the joint communication strategy at major press conferences featuring City leadership, during which National Weather Service personnel provide the scientific basis for safety decisions alongside their municipal counterparts, fostering consistency in public-safety messaging during historic storm cycles.
