Meteorologists and forecasters across the country, including Minnesota’s Paul Douglas, are concerned about the Trump administration’s decision to fire hundreds of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and National Weather Service employees.
“NOAA was already understaffed. “These cuts will make it more difficult to keep your family safe when the skies become threatening,” Douglas recently wrote on social media. “This is not efficiency. It’s insane and “potentially lethal.”
Douglas, the founder of several private weather forecasting businesses, told MPR News host Cathy Wurzer that the private sector will be unable to compensate for the loss of government weather staff and data.
“I think you’re going to wind up with a lot of confusion, a lot of anarchy,” he told me. “I’m worried about public safety. I mean, it’s not just about consumer safety and receiving the tornado warning on time.
It’s about the safety of our aviation system, shipping, agriculture, making this data available to Minnesota farmers, and even [Department of Defense] military readiness.”
The United States experiences more severe weather than any other country. Everyone, from local TV meteorologists to the United States military, relies on NOAA and NWS data for daily forecasts and extreme weather alerts, such as tornadoes, hurricanes, and blizzards, which are becoming more severe as climate change continues.
