Katy Bar the Door, THIS One is About to Put on a Show: What the U.S. Government Can Do Now to Protect our Coasts from Hurricanes
The 1970s-era U.S. government plane was in the air near the eye of the Hurricane when darkness descended on the Gulf. When the plane’s first radar scan arrived by satellite communications, I pounced and took to the airwaves, describing to viewers what I saw inside the storm: a dreaded vortex alignment signaling the early stages of rapid intensification. On social media I put it more plainly: “Katy bar the door, this one’s about to put on a show.”
Over the next 24 hours, it strengthened to a 180-mile-per-hour Category 5 monster, the strongest Gulf Hurricane in 20 years. There was no October surprise on the Florida coast, since we had plenty of time for people in high-risk areas to safely evacuate and businesses to prepare for the worst.
But as we head into what NOAA forecasts will be another active Atlantic hurricane season, the Trump administration and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency are downsizing the agency, which houses the National Weather Service, the hurricane hunters and many other programs crucial to hurricane forecasters. Without the arsenal of tools from NOAA and its 6.3 billion observations sourced each day, the routinely detected hurricanes of today could become the deadly surprise hurricanes of tomorrow.
The National Weather Service costs the average American $4 per year in today’s inflated dollars — about the same as a gallon of milk — and offers an 8,000 percent annual return on investment, according to 2024 estimates. The administration does not understand what the best interests of our economy or national security are when it pretends that the agency that protects our coastlines from a rising tide of disasters is not needed. If the private sector could have done it cheaper, it would have.
Hurricanes are Coming: Forecasting, Predicting, Detecting and Preventing Storms in the Atlantic Ocean, and Repreparing for Future Emergency Management
As many as 10 of the storms in the forecast will become full-blown hurricanes with winds of 74 mph or higher and three to five could become major hurricanes with winds of more than 100 mph.
Brennan said that they are ready at the National Hurricane Center. We’re ready to meet the Emergency Management community’s needs no matter what the season brings.
June 1 marks the start of hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean. Forecasters are warning this year could once again bring an above-average number of storms. The average number of named storms per year from 1991 to 2020 was 14.
“It takes just one storm to make this an active season for you,” said Michael Bell, who leads Colorado State University’s Tropical cyclones, Radar, Atmospheric Modeling, and Software Team.
Even storms that aren’t hurricanes can cause floods, and experts say water-related dangers cause most deaths from hurricanes that make landfall.
The National Weather Service, which is part of NOAA, has lost more than 500 workers through the cuts by the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency and the departure of those who took the government’s early retirement offer.
“I don’t think the current situation is sustainable,” LaMarre told NPR’s Scott Simon on May 24. When you have 122 offices, you have a recipe for disaster, because many are short-staffed.