LAKELAND, Fla. — Experts who help predict hurricanes were among hundreds fired at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“These are cuts that are going to hurt us for decades,” said James Franklin, former branch chief of the Hurricane Specialist Unit at the National Hurricane Center.
Lakeland is home to NOAA’s Aircraft Operations Center and its fleet of hurricane hunter planes that fly directly into storms to collect critical data. Franklin said firings at NOAA, including key staff who fly planes into hurricanes, will hamper forecasting.
WATCH NOW: DOGE cuts at NOAA will hurt hurricane modeling and forecasting
“A tropical storm for example, sometimes you can't find the center very well, unless you have a plane in there to tell you exactly where it is,” said Franklin. “So, if you don't know what you’re starting from, if you want to begin a forecast you need to know where it is now. How strong it is now, how big is it now. To get your forecast off to the best possible start. If you don't have that information, then your forecast is going to be degraded. The planes are the best way to do that.”
During hurricane hunter missions, data is transmitted in real-time to the National Hurricane Center for models and forecasting. Franklin worries forecasters will not have the critical information needed to immediately issue advisories, putting residents at risk.
“These local forecasters who translate all of that into specific guidance for specific communities. When they don't have enough staffing to do that in a hurricane, then the information that people get, that the local emergency managers get, could suffer,” Franklin said.
Staffing cuts have also gutted NOAA's Environmental Modeling Center. It’s where sophisticated computer models have been developed that are among the best in the world at forecasting hurricanes and other weather phenomena.
“And now our models, the American models in particular will stop improving. There is still modeling going on in other parts of the world. The European center, the UK Met. They will still be improving their models, but the US will no longer be a leader in that field,” Franklin said.
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