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According to NPR, Trump administration cuts caused almost 600 jobs to be lost from NOAA’s National Weather Service this year.
Now, Ex-NOAA scientists are sounding the alarm on what these and other proposed cuts mean as Florida kicks off a predicted busy hurricane season.
John Cortinas is the former deputy assistant administrator for science at NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research.
Cortinas, along with advocacy group Miami Indivisible, held a protest recently against Trump’s proposed cuts to the organization.
Cortinas fears that with fewer employees doing research at NOAA, it’ll be harder to maintain the quality of forecasting the public is used to.
“Does that mean that we might not be able to communicate to the public as effectively as we have in the past about when storms are coming? Does that mean that because we’re missing observations that a forecast may not be as accurate as it was before all these cuts? It’s hard to say,” Cortinas told WMNF.
He’s not the only one.
Miami Meteorologist John Morales gained national attention after saying during a weather report the cuts would leave Floridians “flying blind” into hurricane season.
Andrew Hazelton is an associate scientist with the University of Miami, but was previously a federal employee before the Trump administration firings.
“It’s a big agency with a lot that goes on, and I think all the pieces are a huge part of the process of keeping people safe,” Hazelton told WMNF.
Cortinas encouraged people to reach out to their representatives to voice their support for NOAA’s research.
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