CHARLOTTE — Concerns are rising over the accuracy of hurricane forecasts this year due to staffing and budget cuts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, WJAX, our partners in Jacksonville, Florida, reported.
Democratic U.S. Representatives from South Carolina and Florida met with current and former NOAA officials to address these concerns.
They report that $400 million intended for upgrading and purchasing new hurricane hunting equipment is currently frozen, and staffing cuts have reduced the number of researchers qualified to fly on hurricane hunting planes by half.
“That’s going to be a major obstacle for us staffing aircraft and that’ll mean likely less airborne Doppler radar data, less dropsondes support for the National Hurricane Center observations this year,” Frank Marks, former director of NOAA’s Hurricane Research Division, said in a virtual press conference Wednesday.
The reduction in qualified personnel and the freeze on funding are expected to impact the collection of critical data used in hurricane forecasting. This data, gathered by specialized equipment on hurricane hunting planes, is vital for accurate predictions.
Despite these challenges, NOAA has stated that it remains dedicated to providing timely information and warnings to the public.
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