Concerns Over NOAA's Cuts Grow With Forecast for a Busy Hurricane Season
Source: Newsweek
Published Mar 26, 2025 at 4:44 PM EDT
A forecast for an active hurricane season this summer has heightened concerns that the Trump administration's cuts to the federal government's weather information system will undermine the ability to accurately track and predict tropical storms.
"Loss in hurricane forecast skill has the potential to cost lives and lead to billions in avoidable damage," Yale Climate Connections meteorologist Jeff Masters told Newsweek via email.
Masters is a former hurricane hunter with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which includes the National Weather Service and National Hurricane Center. NOAA suffered sharp cuts as part of the Trump administration's effort to dramatically reduce federal government employment. Masters is among the former NOAA scientists and officials raising concerns about the effects those cuts might have on storm-tracking capabilities this hurricane season.
AccuWeather released its outlook for the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season Wednesday and predicted three to six direct storm impacts, with Texas, Louisiana, western Florida, North Carolina and Atlantic Canada all facing higher-than-average risks. The report, which relies in part on NOAA data, called for between seven and 10 storms to strengthen into hurricanes and for three to five of those to become major storms. The 30-year historical average is seven hurricanes and three major storms.
Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/noaa-staff-cuts-busy-hurricane-season-2051063

Think. Again.
(22,330 posts)no_hypocrisy
(50,950 posts)No NOAA and no FEMA.
And in Florida's case, no income tax to have the funds to rebuild and to feed the homeless.
Think. Again.
(22,330 posts)littlemissmartypants
(27,069 posts)Ridden out more hurricanes than I care to remember. I would not have stayed home if my weather forecasts indicated otherwise.
Now, I don't believe that I can ever rely on those reports again but I'm just going to stay home. If I die in my house, on land that's been in my family for five generations, I will be grateful.
But only for the past and the very good life that I've had, up to this point.
❤️
Buddyzbuddy
(623 posts)I'm so sorry about the uncertainty that you'll experience because of evil, greedy creeps. I wish for a mild season on your behalf.
Buddyzbuddy
(623 posts)and gubbamint. So let's leave it in mother nature's hands (aka God) and he/she will do what needs doin. It sounds like a plan to me.
For those of you thinkers in those areas, I'm sincerely sorry for what you might have to endure.
I really hate voluntary idiocy.