Climate Scientist Discusses NWS Staffing and National Climate Assessments

National Weather Service Staffing Concerns

• ⚠️ Kristina Dahl, VP of Climate Central, discusses the National Weather Service's (NWS) staffing levels and their potential impact on forecasts.
• 🎯 While NWS issued flood warnings, a vacancy in the Warning Coordination Meteorologist position might have affected local authority communication for early warnings.
• 📉 Some NWS offices are no longer staffing 24 hours a day due to staffing cuts, a critical issue for public safety.

NOAA's Forecasting Capabilities

• 🔬 Broader staffing cuts at NOAA threaten the future ability to improve forecasts, such as pinpointing heavy rainfall and predicting flooding.
• 📈 NOAA's research is crucial for year-over-year forecast improvements, enabling more accurate public warnings.

Disappearance of National Climate Assessments

• 📚 Legally mandated National Climate Assessments, used by officials to prepare for climate impacts, have been removed from federal websites.
• 🏛️ These assessments, mandated by the U.S. Global Research Act of 1990, were supposed to be produced roughly every four years.
• 🚫 The sixth assessment was canceled mid-stream, and the previous five have disappeared from the U.S. Global Change Research Program's website.

Broader Assault on Scientific Analysis

• 🎯 John Holdren, former science advisor to President Obama, describes the removal of assessments as part of a campaign to dismantle the U.S. research establishment.
• 🧠 Suppressing information about climate impacts can increase the danger Americans face by hindering decision-makers' ability to prepare.
• 🗣️ Holdren suggests the campaign against science may stem from a desire for total control and to eliminate independent analysis that contradicts administration policies.
• ⚠️ This suppression extends across various scientific fields, including climate, medicine, pollution, and public education, with potentially severe long-term consequences.