False alarms and near misses can erode public trust in weather warnings, which may lead to people becoming less responsive to actual risks. However, false alarms and near misses can also be used to increase public awareness and improve risk assessment through education initiatives for both the public and authorities.

This Warnings Briefing Note, supported by the Global Disaster Preparedness Center/IFRC and produced by UCL Warning Research Center, explores the role of false alarms and near misses in warnings, covering state-of-the-art, key issues, examples, resources and recommendations to aid those working on policy and practice.

Other Briefing Notes in the series can be found here.