https://www.emmasweatherblog.com/blogposts daily 0.75 2025-03-04 https://www.emmasweatherblog.com/blogposts/100-chance-of-dependence-why-the-national-weather-service-is-the-backbone-of-the-entire-private-sector monthly 0.5 2025-03-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/650c9137d1c1d874f647a97c/6ff11057-9c81-4b24-a99b-96ebdda83416/Dixie-Alley-Map.png Blog Posts - 100% Chance of Dependence: Why the National Weather Service is the backbone of your forecast. - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/650c9137d1c1d874f647a97c/9ee010f2-b74b-43dc-8f66-1677e8f299de/Screenshot+2025-03-01+at+1.24.22%E2%80%AFPM.png Blog Posts - 100% Chance of Dependence: Why the National Weather Service is the backbone of your forecast. - Make it stand out I hate to break it to you, but Ryan Hall gets his data from the National Weather Service too. What these private organizations/people do is take the data provided by the National Weather Service and communicate it in a way that is understandable to the public. And that is great! The raw data as it’s available from the National Weather Service can be complicated for the average person to understand. Having people who can interpret this data, repackage it, and make it easily digestible to the layman is an absolutely critical service. What I am not trying to do right now is talk down on the private sector of meteorology. The private sector serves a very important purpose, and is where I intend to pursue a career myself. What I am trying to do is point out how vital the National Weather Service is and how nothing in the private sector could function without it. The danger of an underfunded, understaffed National Weather Service This week, mass layoffs took place across the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration, spurred on by the Department of Government Efficiency. NOAA is also bracing for a potential 30% cut in funding. I’m not here to make any kind of statement on the administration or on DOGE. What I’m here to do is tell you how this affects your access to accurate and reliable weather forecasts and warnings, and you’re free to draw whatever conclusion you would like. The NWS was already considered understaffed. After the mass layoffs on Wednesday, 11 out of the 35 National Weather Service offices across the United States declared that they were now “critically” understaffed. The following offices are now asking for mutual aid from surrounding offices so that they can properly cover their warning areas: - Cheyenne, Wyoming - Goodland, Kansas - Jackson, Kentucky - Kansas City, Missouri - Marquette, Michigan - Omaha, Nebraska - Rapid City, South Dakota - Wichita, Kansas - Denver, Colorado - Sioux Falls, South Dakota - Grand Forks, North Dakota Having offices that are this understaffed is not just an inconvenience. It is a danger to the public. Think of National Weather Service meteorologists like air traffic controllers. During a tornado outbreak, meteorologists are responsible for doing real time radar analysis on all the storms in their warning area. Like air traffic controllers, meteorologists have to make quick judgements in high stakes scenarios. When you cut staff, fewer people are responsible for monitoring a large amount of airspace. Less meteorologists monitoring a region raises the likelihood of missed warnings and reduces the overall effectiveness of an office. Less staffing also means less data collection, at least for the time being. The NWS announced that they are “indefinitely suspending weather balloon launches at Kotzebue, Alaska due to a lack of WFO staffing”. If staff and funding continue to be reduced, as is currently anticipated, we may see more NWS offices be forced to suspend their data collection. NOAA leases set to be cancelled Currently, two buildings occupied by NOAA are set to have their leases terminated. Like the layoffs, this is also a move from the Department of Government Efficiency. NOAA currently works out of over 600 buildings, so at a surface-level, losing two does not seem like a big deal. Unfortunately, the two buildings in question are absolutely critical to the operations of the National Weather Service. Let’s talk about their functions: Radar Operations Center in Norman, Oklahoma This is the central hub for radar technicians. The NWS operates a system of 160 NEXRAD radars across the country. While some news stations and private companies own and operate their own radar, no company comes close to the infrastructure of the National Weather Service. When you use the radar on your weather app, that data is likely coming straight from the NEXRAD radar system. Keeping this system up and running is absolutely critical to the safety of the public. Center for Weather and Climate Prediction in College Park, Maryland This building is the lifeblood of the National Weather Service. This building is home to the supercomputers that run our numerical prediction models. Specifically, this building houses the: - GFS - HRRR - SREF - RAP In order to create a weather forecast, meteorologists have to analyze the data outputs from these models. I personally use the GFS and HRRR every single time I write a forecast. This is also the center of meteorology research in the United States. As someone who wants to go into research meteorology, my biggest dream would have been to work here. Terminating this lease is not just short sighted. It is the blind swing of an axe with no care as to where it lands. Unless this decision is reversed, it has landed in the beating heart of the National Weather Service. Any relocation efforts need to be very carefully planned out. These supercomputers are not easily relocated, and ANY period of time without access to this data would be devastating. The accuracy of your forecast is 100% dependent on our access to these models. There has been lots of outcry from meteorologists in all sectors, so it’s my hope that this decision will be reversed. I’m all for cutting wasteful government spending; however, the National Weather Service needs to be approached by a scalpel, not a chainsaw. The dangers of a privatized National Weather Service I have had several people ask me how I feel about a privatized and commercialized National Weather Service. While this may be the first you’re hearing about this, it is not a new conversation. In 2005, Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) introduced a bill entitled “The National Weather Service Duties Act”. The goal of the bill was to limit the National Weather Service’s distribution of free weather data. Then, private companies could buy this information from the NWS and sell their forecasts to the general public. The bill barely had any chance to breathe. It failed to get any senate cosponsors and therefore died in the committee. Now, 20 years later, this idea is resurfacing. Thomas F. Gilman was nominated to serve as the Chief Financial Officer and Assistant Secretary of Administration for the U.S. Department of Commerce during Donald Trump’s first term as president. He is the author of the following statement: “Each day, Americans rely on weather forecasts and warnings provided by local radio stations and colleges that are produced not by the NWS, but by private companies such as AccuWeather. Studies have found that the forecasts and warnings provided by the private companies are more reliable than those provided by the NWS. The NWS provides data the private companies use and should focus on its data-gathering services. Because private companies rely on these data, the NWS should fully commercialize its forecasting operations. " Although Gilman is not currently part of the Trump administration, his sentiments on NOAA and the privatization and commercialization of the NWS are shared by several, mainly conservative, lawmakers. I want to make it clear right now that my intent is not to attack a person, party, or administration. My intent is to attack the idea that has been proposed. I really don’t think weather forecasting should be a partisan issue, and I think many people share that sentiment. Prioritizing Profit over People As mentioned earlier, you spend 4 taxpayer dollars a year on the National Weather Service. In return, you have access to all of the atmospheric data they collect. You can read their forecast discussions at any time, and you don’t have to pay for a subscription to receive any watches, warnings, or special weather statements. If NWS data were to be put behind a paywall, it would create several significant issues. Inequitable Access Dixie Alley is one of the biggest tornado hotspots in the United States. It’s proximity to the Gulf of Mexico makes it a moisture hot spot, and some of our countries worst tornado outbreaks (ex. April 27, 2011) have taken place in this region. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/650c9137d1c1d874f647a97c/29d07454-37f0-48cb-a284-a325fbacb31c/Screenshot+2025-03-03+at+12.06.28%E2%80%AFPM.png Blog Posts - 100% Chance of Dependence: Why the National Weather Service is the backbone of your forecast. - Make it stand out Convective Outlook issued by the Storm Prediction Center at the NWS https://www.emmasweatherblog.com/blogposts/why-weather monthly 0.5 2023-09-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/650c9137d1c1d874f647a97c/55b872a2-6182-420a-b6b8-64d633172c6e/42083C84-EC6B-4375-A913-63A29FDFCFC7.jpg Blog Posts - Why weather? - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/650c9137d1c1d874f647a97c/752dcbd8-9b29-44b4-9ca4-346256d6b057/download-1.jpg Blog Posts - Why weather? - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/650c9137d1c1d874f647a97c/158722d0-59aa-41c6-8c8d-91a5afd18403/IMG_5813.jpeg Blog Posts - Why weather? - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/650c9137d1c1d874f647a97c/fb879f7e-cc51-4f17-bfaa-48846e9f749e/FGS_np3WQAc9kFE-1.jpg Blog Posts - Why weather? - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.emmasweatherblog.com/home daily 1.0 2025-02-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/650c9137d1c1d874f647a97c/f10587e6-eda8-44af-8dfe-c5eada587c5b/IMG_7568.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/650c9137d1c1d874f647a97c/904f2552-e7bc-4e87-9dea-23b2bb589287/4376860D-EC74-4053-98E7-7D01AA8E19E2.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/650c9137d1c1d874f647a97c/a5001cc4-e388-4e49-a989-106fd5d0e332/Emma%E2%80%99s+weather+podcaSt.png https://www.emmasweatherblog.com/volnews daily 0.75 2025-02-13 https://www.emmasweatherblog.com/podcast daily 0.75 2023-09-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/650c9137d1c1d874f647a97c/a5001cc4-e388-4e49-a989-106fd5d0e332/Emma%E2%80%99s+weather+podcaSt.png