The forecast for the powerful and deadly storm that battered small communities in western Alaska over the weekend was likely made worse by a lack of weather data triggered by the Trump administration’s cuts.
There is a gaping hole in weather balloon coverage in western Alaska — a critical shortage bedeviling US forecasts and the National Weather Service since layoffs hit the agency as part of the Department of Government Efficiency’s push to shrink the federal government back in February.
Weather balloons, which are typically launched twice a day, provide crucial information on wind speed and direction, air temperature, humidity and other measurements. Balloon data is fed directly into the sophisticated computer models used to predict the weather.
However, there were few, if any, balloons to take measurements of what the weather was doing as the remains of Typhoon Halong approached Alaska late last week.
It was only a matter of time
And not much time at that. Surfs up for hurricane season
There are so many little cuts that are surfacing in the US weather forecasting system this year. Daily forecasts wrong, weekly forecasts wrong. Storms that shouldn’t have happened or moved on just sit and spin. Flights are getting randomly more turbulent, as they don’t have the jet stream forecasts to plot daily routes and have to rely more on the first plane to hit it to report it back. The systems had enough failsafes that are slightly holding them together, but it is extremely apparent the damage is already present and becoming worse.
‘Death by a thousand cuts’
Red state. Voted for it. Why care? (Rhetorical, there is no reason)
May they have the day they voted for.
Right except that voting patterns don’t fall along state borders jackass. Rural Alaska is famously deep blue because of the high percentage of indigenous residents. Maybe you arrogant fucks sitting comfy in your deep blue states where you don’t have to do anything to get the results you want should have more sympathy for those of us trying to push this boulder up a red hill.
I have zero sympathy for anyone in the states. Their bullshit American exceptionalism got them in this mess.
Red states, blue states? It doesn’t matter. All the states have been moving against the citizens and promoting the oligarchy. Now you’re sliding into a neo-fascist phase. You are all fucked.
The indigenous population that was mentioned above are mostly victims of American Exceptionalism. Why should they leave?
They will end up in camps. Mark my words.
We’re all getting the life neo-liberals preferred over socialism.
I’m so torn. I’m happy that there weren’t any hurricanes this year (yet), but I kinda wanted one to go straight for Florida.
I’m looking forward to one pulling apart MAGA-largo.
I guarantee there will be a fundraiser to repair the damages.
