Did Trump's cuts to NOAA and the National Weather Service impact predicting the flash floods in central Texas?
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Anonymous
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or did this catastrophic event unfold too quickly, so that even with sufficient staffing, it would be impossible to have evacuated ahead of time?
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/former-national-weather-service-leaders-letter-noaa-cuts/#:~:text=And%20the%20proposed%20budget%20released,for%20new%20satellites%2C%20they%20said. former National Weather Service leaders wrote and released an open letter to the American people warning about the impact of staffing and program cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, saying their "worst nightmare" is the cuts will lead to "needless loss of life." Since the beginning of the year, more than 550 employees have left the National Weather Service, leaving it down 10% of its staffing levels ahead of hurricane season and the busiest time of year. And the proposed budget released by the White House will cut NOAA, the parent agency of the National Weather Service, by nearly 30%, virtually eliminating NOAA's research functions for weather, limiting ocean data observations and decreasing funding for new satellites, they said. The five signatories — Louis Uccellini, Jack Hayes, Brigadier General D.L. Johnson, Brigadier General John J. Kelly Jr. and E.W. (Joe) Friday — worked under both Republican and Democratic administrations. "Our worst nightmare is that weather forecast offices will be so understaffed that there will be needless loss of life," their letter said. "We know that's a nightmare shared by those on the forecasting front lines — and by the people who depend on their efforts." Some forecast offices might be so short-staffed they have to function only part-time, they warned. "The Houston office has lost all three of its senior meteorologists," Friday told CBS News. "We have many offices across the country that are now having to close at night because they don't have sufficient staff," he said. |
Anonymous
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Yes most certainly.
There is no way that the budget and staffing cuts to NOAA and NWS won’t negatively impact weather forecasting and extreme weather preparedness … it’s mind boggling at this time of accelerating climate change and extreme weather … |
Anonymous
| Of course. It’s what MAGA wants right?! |
Anonymous
Yes but in the NE. They’re prob devastated this happened in Texas. |
Anonymous
| No, warnings were issued by the weather service. Apparently the TX emergency alert system was so flooded with copaganda, that everyone had it silenced. |
Anonymous
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I’m sure it was Trumps fault when it flooded in 1936, 1952, 1972, 1973, 1978, 1987, 1991, and 1997 right?
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Anonymous
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Yes, of course the cuts didn’t help.
Trump will never acknowledge the girls who died, because they are Girls. |
Anonymous
That just proves that the river is known to have a high risk of catastrophic flooding. What kind of dumbass administration would fire federal weather forecasters and cut off the weather service’s access to satellite data? |
Anonymous
The floods became more catastrophic in recent years |
Anonymous
We don’t have extreme weather in the Northeast. Some hurricanes with ocean front houses destroyed sometimes but the buyers knew that. Not much else. |
Anonymous
Hurricane Sandy says hello. GTFOH with this crap. NE doesn’t see extreme weather? |
Anonymous
Recent as in 20 years ago recent? Remind me what office Trump held in 1997 |
Anonymous
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Mauna Loa Observatory could be shut down.
For you deniers, it has been known since the mid-1800s that CO2 traps heat, and by the late 1800s scientists predicted that burning coal would eventually warm the atmosphere, although at the time they thought that a good thing (these were British who weren't opposed to warmer weather). Charles Keeling started monitoring CO2 on the mountain in 1958. That is the main reason we have a reliable, 67 year record of CO2 levels in the atmosphere. This is essential science. Alaska and South Pole sites could also be shut down. https://techstory.in/trumps-budget-plan-threatens-closure-of-mauna-loa-climate-lab-and-cuts-to-noaa-research/ |
Anonymous
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The climate change causes the rain to move more slowly which is why they got so much rain — the weather system essentially stalled. Plus it increases total rainfall as the storms pick up more water from the ocean.
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Anonymous
No one is saying Trump caused the flood. We are saying his idiotic cuts to National Weather Service staffing and resources and access to satellite data had an obvious negative effect on the timeliness and accuracy of predicting the severity of flooding in the forecast. We also are saying that the Texas state and local officials did not take the flash flood warnings seriously until it was too late and did not have alert systems and evacuation plans in place for a river system that has a history of catastrophic flash floods. It’s simple: If you know a river is prone to catastrophic flooding, NWS needs the best possible people and systems and resources in place to identify and predict the flooding, and Texas needs to have the best possible systems and plans in place to alert everyone in the path of a catastrophic flood and to help them evacuate immediately. So Trump and Musk and Doge and all the Republicans in Congress and in Texas who thought it was a great idea to slash NWS and NOAA funding and personnel and access to satellites should be held at least partially responsible for the deaths that could have been prevented if they had not been so stupid and incompetent. |