‘Cruel and thoughtless’: Trump fires hundreds at US climate agency Noaa
www.theguardian.com
Employees received emails saying their jobs would be cut off at end of day in move called ‘wrong all around’

Summary

The Trump administration has fired hundreds of employees at NOAA, the U.S.’s top climate research agency, affecting probationary workers, a categorization that applies to new hires or those moved or promoted into new positions.

Critics, including NOAA veterans and lawmakers, call the move “cruel” and warn it endangers weather forecasting, climate research, and public safety.

Senator Chris Van Hollen deemed the mass firings illegal, while scientists and policymakers condemned the decision.

Former NOAA officials argue the cuts lack justification and will harm national security and disaster preparedness. The administration has not commented.

    • @[email protected]English
      18•24 hours ago

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AccuWeather

      On October 12, 2017, President Donald Trump nominated AccuWeather CEO Barry Lee Myers, the younger brother of the company’s founder, to head the National Weather Service’s parent administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It was noted that unlike 11 of the previous 12 NOAA administrators, Myers lacks an advanced scientific degree, instead holding bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business and law.[37] Barry Myers stepped down as CEO of AccuWeather on January 1, 2019, and completely divested himself of any ownership of AccuWeather in accordance with his pledge to the Office of Government Ethics and the U.S. Senate. After two years of inaction on the nomination, Myers withdrew his consideration for nomination on November 12, 2019, due to ill health,[38] though allegations of a hostile workplace and pervasive sexual harassment while Myers was at AccuWeather are rumored to have stalled it.[39][40] Myers sent a letter to The Washington Post in 2019 to address these allegations.

      Huh.

  • @[email protected]English
    23•1 day ago

    Well crap. Knew it was coming but still.

    Anyone know of a good weather service that doesn’t rely on NOAA?

    • @[email protected]English
      41•1 day ago

      None of them.

      There are private companies that run a lot of their own independent forecasting models e.g AccuWeather, but all of them almost exclusively rely on NOAA’s scientific models, experimental tests, weather balloons, satellites, sensor stations, etc for input data to forecast anything useful.

      • @[email protected]English
        8•1 day ago

        Yeah. Even if they employ their own meteorologists, they’re still interpreting the maps and imagery from government satellites and weather stations. You take those away, and AccuWeather can’t afford to stay in business.

    • TrenchcoatFullOfBats
      18•1 day ago

      The Norwegian Meteorological Institute has good data and a great data sharing policy:

      We have a free and open data policy, which means that anyone may use our material freely and for benefit of society.

      Fun fact: They are the default weather data provider for Home Assistant!

      • Enoril
        4•20 hours ago

        But that work only if the USA share its data freely to others… and of course Trump asked 2 weeks ago these agency to stop doing that.

  • @RagingSnarkasm
    20•1 day ago

    He’s still pissed that they didn’t back him up on the Sharpie hurricane line, isn’t he?

  • @flying_mechanic
    10•1 day ago

    I hope this doesn’t affect the aviation weather services, we are going to see even more crashes and near misses