Whether Weather

Screen grabs from Windy, Lightning Maps, and Storm Radar

NOAA (The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) is the alpha US source for weather forecasting, ocean science, climate research, and much more. So, as a weather geek, it concerns me when Wired says Dismantling NOAA Threatens the World’s Ability to Monitor Carbon Dioxide Levels: The agency maintains the global backbone of measurements of CO2 and other gases, but these are at risk of being curtailed if the foreshadowed cuts to NOAA are realized.

So I dug a bit. Here are five threats:

Massive Budget CutsProposed 27% cut to NOAA’s overall budget, reducing it from $6.1 billion to approximately $4.5 billion.Complete elimination of the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), NOAA’s central hub for climate science.Threats to halt programs that underpin climate forecasting, weather modeling, and long-term environmental monitoring.Threats to federal support for NOAA’s 16 cooperative research institutes, typically housed at major universities.Sources: Washington Post, NPR, AxiosStaff Reductions and Operational Disruptions880 NOAA employees laid off, so far, with 1,029 more departing through early retirement or buyouts.Shuttering of regional climate centers.Halted weather balloon launches, degrading forecast accuracy.Reduced dependent local emergency planning and storm readiness.Sources: Wikipedia, Vox, NewsweekData Shutdowns and Transparency RollbacksShutdowns of multiple publicly accessible datasets, including the Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters database (here’s Texas), on which insurance companies, city planners, climate researchers, emergency folk, and geeks like me all depend.Source: Yahoo, Houston ChronicleStructural Realignment and Privatization Push Project 2025 , recommendations of which the Trump administration predictably follows, calls for privatization of NOAA services , including the NWS.There are plans to move NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center to the Department of Homeland Security.Sources: Washington Post, Wikipedia, The HillLong-Term Risks to Public Safety and ScienceDegrading NOAA’s capabilities will also degrade forecasting of extreme weather events.Agriculture, shipping, aviation, and emergency services will all suffer major setbacks.Source: The Guardian

When I look at my weather sites and apps—

WindyWeatherbugMyRadarAccuweatherLightning Maps

—I wonder what will happen to them.

Will NASA’s FIRMS and its fire detection and mapping satellite services (MODIS, VIIRS) go away, when stuff like that gets jobbed out to SpaceX, BlueOcean, or whatever? Every time I report on a wildfire, I depend on those. Examples.

News about all this seems to be quieter lately. Did the cuts happen? If so, did they do what DOGE promised, and just cut fat and costs? Are they done with it?

If you have answers, love to hear them.