NOAA Is Struggling As Hurricane Season Nears

The Felon's regime with the aid of Elon Musk's unthinking "chainsaw" attacks on federal agencies have wreaked havoc on the safety of everyday Americans as medical research funding has been slashed, clean air and clean water regulations are erased, food safety inspections  have been curtailed in some instances, and important information is purged from federal websites.  In addition, NOAA has been savaged by cuts to funding and the departure of hundreds of employees - just as we approach the 2025 hurricane season.  Living on the Atlantic coast - and previously on the Gulf of Mexico coast - and having lived through a number of hurricanes, I am only too aware of the need for timely and accurate forecasts, things many fear will not be provided by a savaged NOAA and hurricane center.  Indeed, the ax taken to NOAA could literally cost lives, not that the Felon or Musk care, and could well threaten inland regions as Hurricane Helene underscored last year.  Ironically, the red states of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas could pay the highest prices resulting from a diminished NOAA and less accurate forecasts and lack of coordination with local forecasters. A piece at Politico looks at NOAA's weakened situation.  Here are excerpts:

Vacancies at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are raising fears among current and former agency officials and Democrats that cuts to the federal workforce have left the country with too few experts to help prepare for weather disasters ahead of the looming Atlantic hurricane season.

POLITICO first reported on Wednesday that NOAA posted 155 job openings at the National Weather Service, the public safety agency whose regional offices make up the nation’s first line of defense for imminent storms and disasters. . . . . NOAA managers are pleading with employees in emails to pursue reassignments to fill those jobs, which in many cases would amount to demotions.

“There appears to be a panic level on the part of the department to try and undo the damage they’ve done to the weather service.”

The vacancies are mostly for meteorologists who embed in local offices scattered throughout the country and coordinate with local officials like mayors and emergency managers to provide timely information for storm preparation, helping reduce loss of life and property.

NWS is also backfilling crucial roles like hydrologists and information technology specialists who help fine tune radar systems, said Tom DiLiberto, a former NOAA official who spoke at the Wednesday event. Those functions are essential for events like the hurricane season that officially begins June 1, DiLiberto said.

“We’re not prepared. We’re heading into hurricane season as unprepared as anytime as I can imagine,” he said.

Five former NWS chiefs said in an open letter earlier this month that the Trump administration’s cuts could lead to “a needless loss of life.” They said offices are so thinly staffed that some roles will have to be filled on a part-time basis. The former NWS directors said 250 employees were fired or took buyouts in February, and another 300 have since departed.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has also endured layoffs and curtailed or cut disaster response programs.

“This is not fear mongering. These are challenges by design, by the actions of the Trump administration,” Rep. Gabe Amo (D-R.I.) said. “We know that there’s a likelihood of a very intense [hurricane] season. So why would we put ourselves in a position to not be the most prepared possible?”

DiLiberto said Trump’s actions will also further obscure climate-driven dangers. NOAA recently shuttered its database of disasters that cause at least $1 billion of damage, taking a key public resource offline. DiLiberto said datasets tracking polar sea ice in the Arctic and greenhouse gases at NOAA are also under threat.

“The Trump administration takes an axe to NOAA, whose mission is to protect the American people and their livelihoods,” he said. “NOAA is in trouble.”