Every morning across the country, weather professionals employed by the National Weather Service, the forecasting arm of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, launch weather balloons into the sky. These balloons collect real-time data on wind speed and direction, barometric pressure at a range of altitudes and more.
The data is fed into the NWS forecast model known as the GFS along with data from NOAA satellites and a host of other sources. The GFS combines data from four distinct models: atmosphere, ocean, land/soil and sea ice. The result is a six-times a day forecast update for the planet and North America in particular that stretches out up to 16 days.
The forecast data is shared with the Defense Department, the FAA, the FDA, Agriculture, Commerce and a wide range of commercial weather forecasting and routing companies for free. Since the days of Benjamin Franklin, providing weather information has been deemed an essential governmental service to the public provided by federally employed scientists and paid for with our tax dollars.
The layoffs announced last week involved mostly probationary employees who have been on staff for less than two years, since these staff members are easier to fire than those who have been tenured into the civil service.
None of this was unexpected. The real question is what will become of the NWS and NOAA? Cuts to staff can improve the efficiency of those remaining in the short run. But it also narrows the service’s bandwidth. The European Model ECMWF is already considered by most weather gurus and experienced sailors to be the more accurate weather product. Will the cuts at the NWS further widen that gap over time?
