Should we wreck our weather forecasts?

Musk and Trump are currently gutting the National Weather Service, which provides the data all US weather forecasters rely on. Without it, many more of us will die in tornadoes, hurricanes, and floods. Without good forecasts, farmers will have more trouble with planting and harvesting their crops. For a tiny investment, the National Weather Service provides a huge return to all of us.

From a report in Axios: “NOAA has reportedly been asked to prepare for shaving off up to one-third of its budget, which could disrupt core functions such as weather forecasting, climate data gathering and research.” and
“In the days leading up to the NOAA cuts, weather broadcasters and other meteorologists spoke out in favor of the agency on social media, noting its crucial role in providing accurate weather data and warnings.”

From the NY Times (gift article): Cuts to National Weather Service Leave Forecasters Reeling

• John Toohey-Morales, a longtime television meteorologist in Miami and former Weather Service forecaster, said that the firings raised serious public safety concerns. “I am telling you, the American people are going to suffer from all this,” he said. “Lives are being put in danger.”
• As a broadcast meteorologist in a hurricane-prone area, Mr. Toohey-Morales said he relied continuously on the whole of the Weather Service to do his work. “I can’t do my job without the entire scaffolding that NOAA and National Weather Service provides,” he added.

From The Atlantic (gift article): The American Weather Forecast Is in Trouble:
Layoffs at NOAA will only make weather reports less reliable. They report: “It costs the public roughly $4 per year per person to keep the National Weather Service functioning. In return, the NWS provides its own raw weather data to anyone who wants the information, and publishes its own public-facing weather reports; virtually every private forecast relies on freely available NOAA data as the basis for its weather reports. Dan Satterfield, a veteran television meteorologist, told me on Bluesky that many times, he’d notice signs in the data that a storm could turn into a tornado, and that “NWS would have the warning out before I could get on air.”

These are changes that will make all of us poorer and less safe.

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