I'm fuming.
The reckless decision to fire NOAA and National Weather Service employees puts American lives at risk, friend.
As a meteorologist for more than two decades, I depended on their work to provide accurate, life-saving weather reports for my neighbors. Our community stayed safe because of the information I gave them, that came from these organizations.
Even things that might sound okay on a spreadsheet, are in fact highly-skilled, highly-trained specialists where the cost of catastrophe will far outweigh any savings.
For example, I’ve been informed that one of the people laid off was an NWS doppler radar electrician, who was told it was “not a necessary position”, and that NWS can get a contractor if they need to fix things that break down at the station.
Do you know how many people know how to fix doppler radars, friend? It’s not many, and the ones who can might need to be called in from across the state, and even across the region.
That is hours and even days that these systems will be down, and anyone from the Midwest knows those hours could be the difference between a full evacuation and unspeakable damage.
You can’t just get a warning from Apple, either. Their weather data comes from the very services like NWS being gutted.
This won’t stand. As the only trained meteorologist in Congress, I am fighting back against any attempt to undermine the public servants at NOAA and the National Weather Service immediately. And I hope you’ll stand with me.
That’s why I’m asking you to sign on today to commit to continue mobilizing against Trump’s attack on climate science. Everything from our home insurance prices to our neighbor’s safety depends on it.
-Eric
