Cuts To The National Weather Service Are Dangerous

Please read the whole article at the following link.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/marshallshepherd/2018/02/17/in-the-weather-app-era-cuts-to-the-national-weather-service-are-dangerous/#48e9e7e81438

Marshall Shepherd
Feb. 17, 2018

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The National Weather Service (NWS) is a jewel of the United States Government. I trust them for my weather information (by the way, so do you even if you may not realize it). Their computer models, satellites, radars and meteorologists are at the heart of most weather information that you consume on television and digitally. They also provide our valuable watches and warnings. Yet, President Trump's proposed 2019 budget includes dangerous cuts to the National Weather Service.

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I would like to propose a challenge to the reader. What do each of the following have in common?

• An oil refinery manager in Houston trying to determine how to fortify infrastructure as Hurricane Harvey approaches.
• A farmer assessing needs for irrigation of her peanut crop.
• An air traffic controller routing a plane near turbulence or a thunderstorm.
• The mayor of Ft. Myers, Florida assessing who should evacuate as Hurricane Irma approaches Florida.
• The U.S. Navy evaluating options for moving its Norfolk-based fleet as Hurricane Sandy approached.
• Firefighters and officials evaluating where to dispatch resources to battle wildfires in California.
• A school superintendent deciding whether to send buses onto roads as a snowstorm approaches St. Paul, Minnesota.
• A TV meteorologist providing guidance as potentially severe storms approach a town hosting an outdoor concert.

The answer is that they all rely on sound and timely weather information. The NWS is the agency in our country charged with that task. According to Avery Anapol writing in The Hill,

President Trump’s 2019 White House budget reportedly includes a proposed cut to the National Weather Service (NWS) that would eliminate hundreds of jobs. As part of an 8 percent cut to the agency’s budget, the Trump administration would nix 355 jobs, including 248 forecasters, saving an estimated $15 million, according to The Washington Post...The budget would also cut millions of dollars to the agency’s surface and marine observations program, the tsunami-warning program and activities that invest in weather modeling.

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NWS union director Dan Sobien sums up his thoughts on proposed cuts in The Hill,

There simply will not be the staff available on duty to issue the forecasts and warnings upon which the country depends

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