More NOAA And National Weather Service Woes. Cutbacks, Micromanaging Threaten Forecast Communications

A critical communications tool used by NOAA and the
National Weather Service was almost shut down by
cutback and foot dragging by members of the Trump
administration. If the shutdown had happened, 
weather information that would have resulted in
timely storm warnings would have been crippled. 

Brutal staff cuts, budget cuts all in the name of "saving money" (Hah!) have already badly hurt the National Weather Service's ability to do its literally life saving work.  

Now, even worse, as  Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is  micromanaging in a way  that is threatening public safety even more. 

The Commerce Department oversees the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and by extension the National Weather Service.

Lutnick says he has to personally approve many contracts and extensions. The time it takes for him to do that is slowing operations down, and earlier this week nearly shut down a critical forecasting communication tool whose contract was about to expire,.

And, because a contract wasn't renewed, the National Weather Service halted foreign language forecasts right before one of the worst severe weather outbreaks in years was just about to start.

NOAA COMMUNICATION

Earlier, this week, the NOAA nearly lost a critical communications tool due to foot dragging on contracts. 

  Per Axios:

"As severe thunderstorms rumbled along the East Coast on Monday, the National Weather Service faced the possibility of losing its ability to bring satellite and observational data into forecast offices in a timely manner, starting at midnight, current and former staff told Axios."

I  have to stop right here before going on with the story to just note that Axios has been absolutely fantastic covering how the Trump administration is hindering the National Weather Service. Trump and Elon Musk and DOGE moves are threatening the lives of so many Americans who live in the path of dangerous storms. 

The Trump brigade is  endangering lives in a myriad of other ways too, of course, but since this is a weather and climate blog, I'll stay in my lane for now. 

The most recent problem involved what is known as the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System or AWIPS. It's the main way meteorologists access weather data from satellites, radars, ground observations and computer models 

Axios again: 

"If the contract was to expire - even temporarily - the AWIPS help desk would stop functioning. Data flowing to NWS offices, particularly satellites and observational information, could be subject to delays, to NOAA sources familiar with the matter told Axios. 

This could jeopardize the timely issuance of extreme weather watches and warnings. Forecasters would have been operating on a time delay, which would cost lives during severe weather outbreaks"

Even seemingly mundane tasks at NOAA and National Weather Service offices are getting screwed up A notice went out that facilities services at NOAA headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, such as changing lightbulbs and adjusting thermostats have been suspended.

I have no idea why. It's just petty. 

The whole Lutnick and his minions must approve contracts understandably has eyes rolling. I'm all for oversight, as who wants to see tax dollars wasted or stolen?  But that oversight had already been in place. Concentrating that oversight into the hands of a billionaire (Lutnick) who is beholden to his billionaire friends just makes me nervous. 

I'm not saying by any stretch of the imagination Lutnick is a crook, mostly because I have zero evidence that he is.  But concentrating the oversight to him just invites trouble. 

"This is outrageously inefficient,' Rick Spinrad, NOAA' administrator during the Biden administration, told Axios. 'Secondly, I understand that the recommendations for approval are being vetted by newly replaced political appointees with zero technical experience,' Spinrad said."

Future procurements include a new C-130 Hurricane Hunter aircraft to replace its current aging fleet, moving agency IT operations to the cloud, and building and sending off new weather satellites. A new cloud-based version of AWIPS is also planned.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FORECASTS

Despite the hysteria of MAGA who insist that everyone be proficient in English, not everybody wholes in the United States is fluent in the language. Hell, half of MAGA can't speak or comprehend English very well, but that's another story. 

On Tuesday , a contract with the AI translation firm Lilt lapsed. This was immediately before what will become a nearly week long outbreak of rapidly changing, extreme severe weather, including tornadoes and catastrophic flooding. 

You'd think that people who don't speak English should at least be still told a large tornado was headed toward their house, but that's not the thinking here, apparently. 

Per Bloomberg, via Earth.org

"The five-year contract, valued at $5.8 million and set to be renewed every spring, helped provide weather forecast translations into Spanish, Chinese and three other languages to some 30 cities and metropolitan areas across the country."

There were no plans to substitute in another service until the Lilt contract is renewed. Nobody seems to be sure when or if the contract will be renewed.  

Just the usual incompetence and total lack of professionalism we've come to expect from members fo the Trump administration. 

St. Louis Demonstrates How To Royally Screw Up A Winter Storm Aftermath: Streets Still Icy Weeks After Ice, Snow Hit

Streets of St. Louis, Missouri still look
like this three weeks after a snow
and ice storm,  Probably the worst
job I've seen of any municipality
cleaning up after a storm. 

Here's the story of the kind of winter storm that gets politicians thrown out of office.

A big winter storms swept across large swaths of the nation back on January 5. St. Louis was hit hard with lots of freezing rain and snow.  

It was no surprise that in the first few days after the storm, city streets were atrocious to drive on.

But as the days turned into weeks, many side streets were not cleared.  Residents said they've seen no trucks, no plows, no road salt.  

It's dangerous. On Saturday, an elderly man fell on the ice and hit his head. The street he was on was too icy for the ambulance to get through.  Paramedics had to gingerly walk down the icy street to reach the man and treat him. 

The temperature briefly got as high as 56 degrees last Friday before crashing again.  News video shot after the thaw showed more ice on some side streets than on adjacent sidewalks and lawns.

The city said it hired a private company to help with the side streets as the ice clearing lagged. But as of this past weekend, they still hadn't gotten to everyone yet.  The company they hired has six trucks with plows and salt, and two other trucks with salt only. 

Trash pickups have not happened either. Per a union contract, trash haulers in St. Louis do not drive if there's an accumulation of six inches or more of snow or temperatures are below 10 degrees. 

Trash bins have been overflowing in many neighborhoods as a result.

Alarmingly, local news media reported that many side streets remained untouched due to misinformation from employees to their public works bosses. I'm not sure on the details, but if employees are lying like that, there's a real problem going on in St. Louis. 

St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones rebuffed calls to declare a state of emergency in the city, but did call in those outside companies to help.

As of Wednesday, many St. Louis streets were still basically skating rinks. Television station KSDK said the mayor's office told them the streets aren't clear due to a lack of resources and it's cold out. 

The city did cut $600,000 from the snow removal budget, which likely isn't helping. They did add three small trucks that can clear the many narrow alleys in St. Louis, but they won't arrive there until the end of the year because of supply chain issues.

So much for that idea, then. 

Other cities manage to clear streets better than this. St. Louis is having a colder than average January, but it's not record-breaking. And they've only had an additional 2.1 inches of snow since that big storm that started this mess back on  January 5.   

I'm not sure what will happen to local leaders amid public anger, but if people are forced out of office, it won't be the first time a winter storm has created a political shakeup. 

One famous example was the aftermath of a large blizzard that struck Chicago in January, 1979. Mayor Michael Bilandic botched the storm recovery, leading to fellow Jane Byrne challenging him in the Democratic primary for mayor. 

Byrne ended up defeating Bilandic, to become Chicago's first female mayor. 

Way back in February, 1969, an unexpectedly heavy snowstorm dumped 15 inches of snow on New York City. The storm hit on a Sunday, and it took until Wednesday just to get major roads cleared, subway and rail lines recovered and schools reopened. 

The storm ultimately killed 28 people.  He's been a shoo-in for re-election, but barely eeked out a victory and his political fortunes never recovered. 

Sometimes a winter storm won't end a politician's career but can at least partly define them. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz fled to Cancun as a deadly, highly destructive winter storm and freeze hit Texas in 2021. To this day, people call him Cancun Cruz.

St. Louis, after a sharp cold snap this week that kept the icy streets treacherous, is in for a break. Several days of mild weather are expected, especially toward the weekend. The weather looks poised to do what the city couldn't manage: Clear the streets of snow and ice.