The weather balloon data is used for forecasts, and meteorologists say the cuts will decrease forecast quality and could create increased severe weather risk. Photo courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Organization
March 27 (UPI) — Billionaire Elon Musk‘s DOGE cuts for the Trump administration have reduced weather balloon launches, diminishing the ability to accurately forecast extreme weather, experts say.
The launches have been curtailed at 11 National Weather Service locations around the United States, and meteorologists and scientists warn the cutbacks could make tornado and hurricane seasons more dangerous.
“There’s no question it will lead to errors. It’s just a matter of how bad will it be,” Houston meteorologist Matt Lanza said. “We know these things help with forecasts, so why are we cutting them?”
Due to the sweeping and sudden cuts, including hundreds of workers at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the NWS has reduced regular weather balloon launches.
Suspended weather balloon operations are suspended in Kotzebue, Alaska, and have been curtailed in Albany, N.Y., and Gray, Maine. Weather balloon launches have been cancelled in Omaha, Neb., and Rapid City, S.D. Balloon flights have been limited in Michigan, Nebraska, Colorado, Wisconsin, South Dakota and Wyoming.
The cutbacks degrade the ability to collect data, experts say.
“We’re going to lose data because of this staffing,” University of Wisconsin-Madison scientist and former NOAA administrator Michael Morgan said at a press conference. “And that loss of data then translates into less precise forecasts, more uncertainties in the forecast.”
The weather balloon data is used for forecasts, and meteorologists say the cuts will decrease forecast quality and could create increased severe weather risk.
The widespread DOGE-Trump federal funding cuts included more than 600 NOAA workers fired and later reinstated temporarily by a court ruling.
The Union of Concerned Scientists warned in a statement that with tornado season peaking between April and June, NWS’s ability to predict severe weather in the heartland’s tornado alley will be directly affected.
“This could lead to more severe weather-related deaths that could have otherwise been avoided,” the statement said.
The group said Feb. 27 that more than 1,000 NWS employees were “illegally fired by the Trump Administration under the premise of “making the government more efficient,” even though the agency was already severely understaffed.”
According to Alan Gerard, a retired NOAA Severe Storms Forecast Laboratory scientist, “There is now a large swath from the central Rockies into the upper Midwest and Great Lakes region, as well as parts of the Northeast, that will have significantly degraded upper air data for the foreseeable future.”