NOAA releases its new and improved Coastal County Snapshots

Key Takeaways

On January 18, 2022, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released its new and improved Coastal County Snapshots. This Digital Coast tool provides easy-to-understand charts and graphs that describe complex, county-specific coastal data. Please see NOAA’s explanation of the tool here.

Communities can use this information to determine community vulnerability and to plan accordingly. Topics currently include coastal flooding, the coastal economy and the marine economy. It is expected that a snapshot focused on the sea-level rise will be a new feature in the next couple of months. NOAA has added that additional snapshot topics can be incorporated in the future.

Snapshots are currently available for most coastal counties in the contiguous United States and Hawaii. The data come from many sources, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management.

NOAA worked with NACo to develop the Coastal County Snapshots tool in recent years. Additionally, NACo is a NOAA Digital Coast Partnership partner, which provides an effective platform for groups to work together to address coastal issues.

NACo will monitor the Coastal County Snapshots tool closely and update members as additional information becomes available.