Dear Congresscritters: Let's Save The Weather Service?

There is nothing I resent more about the current time of nonsense that we live in than getting so annoyed about any given issue that I am forced to poke my Congresscritters about it. Do I think my little email is going to make a difference in the grand scheme of things? Probably not. But I do know that ALL of them get read by SOMEBODY in their respective offices and honestly, I refuse to be beaten down by the time of nonsense. The nonsense will not win. So occasionally, like Don Quixote, I will saddle up and tilt at a windmill or two in attempt to get my elected representatives to listen to me. (Or at least force one of their underlings to read my email.) So, Senators Grassley, Ernst and Congresswoman Miller-Meeks received the following from me this afternoon:

Dear Senator,

I am one of your constituents, writing to you from Johnson County, IA. At this hour, it appears that mass layoffs are underway at the NOAA and NWS, and as we are about to head into tornado season, I, understandably, am somewhat concerned about this. Quite literally every meteorologist on the internet has been unanimous in their opinion: not only are these cuts a bad idea, they are potentially disastrous for the safety of Americans.

(When I say every meteorologist, I am not exaggerating: everyone from Al Roker to Alabama meteorologist James Spann, to Jim Cantore, Reed Timmer and even newer meterologists such as Ryan Hall Y’all– all of them are saying that this is a bad idea.)

I am an independent voter– technically, I might be registered as a Democrat right now, but that was because I wanted to caucus with them in 2020 and I have registered as a Republican to do the same thing in the past. I understand that we must do something about the size of our government, and in order to do so, there can be no ‘sacred cows.’ If (and given the scattershot and unwieldy approach of DOGE thus far, I would say it’s a big ‘if’) these cuts are being done in such a way that the impact to critical services vital to the safety of Americans will be minimal, no one has been told.

This is not about public versus private either: my understanding is that even private entities rely on forecast models and radar provided by the NWS. There is no replacement or alternative to what we have now.

As we head into storm season, it is vital that the services of the NWS be preserved and even enhanced. The safety of our communities here in Iowa is depending on it. 

Please take action to ensure these services remain.

Thank you for your time and attention

Tom Nixon

Needless to say, I have thoughts about the whole DOGE thing. (Yes, I am going to go to Iowa's DOGE website and give them feedback at some point this week-- I've got that bookmarked for later!) While I think it's moved the conversation on the size/role/need for governmental reforms, I think we're going to find that the savings are largely illusory and when you throw in the ludicrous amount of tax cuts that are going to explode the deficit, it seems like nobody actually cares about improving the nation's financial health.

In the case of the NWS/NOAA, however, this is a really, really bad idea. If there are reforms to be had, then they should doing them openly, transparently, and not quickly and with a hacksaw. Storm season is almost here, and like I said in the letter, the safety of our communities is on the line. Hopefully enough people make noise that this can be reversed or the damage mitigated and if not, hopefully nobody gets killed.