Weather Service Memo Says Cuts Could Curtail Life-Saving Warnings

A National Weather Service official said Congress has cut the agency's budget so drastically that it will impair its ability to warn the public of all sorts of foul weather, which, in turn, "will" lead to "unwarranted loss of life."

The warning, which came in an internal memo, said the budget Congress approved late last year will require the agency to slice a number of operations and programs "critical" to its duties. "The reductions in the FY 05 budget for the National Weather Service (NWS) will have a critical impact on its vital life-saving mission," the memo said. "These impacts will be 'felt' throughout the nation."
...
The National Weather Service Employees Organization, a union that released the memo to the news media, also declined to say who wrote it other than to say it came from the agency's "management" in Washington.

The imbroglio comes as Congress begins to debate the agency's -- and the rest of the federal government's -- budget for the next fiscal year. The NWS, which provides meteorological and oceanographic data and forecasts used across the country and around the globe, saw its operating budget shrink in fiscal 2005 by about $13 million, or 2 percent, to $617 million. The agency now faces a cumulative shortfall of $37 million, union and weather service officials said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40320-2005Feb20.html?nav=rss_politics

Stupid. Really stupid.

And maybe some new wide-spectrum Prayer-Powered doppler radar.

I don't ever remember hearing any "weather alert" that wasn't a test in my 20 some odd years living on the west coast. This should hit Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas hard.

We should be moving to a newer, more advanced weather alert system, using cell phone networks, or HDTV bandwidth. A 21st century weather alert system should be able to tell YOU, not everybody in a 300 mile radius, that you are in harms way. And, it should be able to tell you specifically what to do, and how fast you need to do it. With the technology we have, this would be easy to implement, and could save many lives. Instead of advancing to new technology, though, we're disabling the antiquated warning system that we rely on. Another GOOD REPUBLICAN IDEA!

a system such as you propose would never be implemented by today's government. It would be auctioned off to private industry to sell as a "value added" subscription service, that only "a few" could afford.

I used to make that argument on vouchers. We don't voucher out police protection or fire protection. But now I suspect you're right and I think I better be quiet for fear of giving them more "good ideas".

Fine, let 'em look out the back window and see if a twister's blowing. I do not feel sorry for these people.

...to rid America of baby killers and gays--by ensuring that they will be carried off by giant twisters!

I pity the poor lesbians who live in Oklahoma!

Penny foolish AND pound foolish
:argh:

It's horrifying to see how helpless the fledgling weather trackers were back in 1900. The worst storm ever to hit the U.S. is just hours away, yet the day at dawn is beautiful there in Galveston. Isaac the meteorologist has been told that Cuba got soaked, but it's widely believed that the storm turned up towards the Atlantic coast. He keeps riding his horse and buggy down to the beach to time the tides. He is concerned that the tides are so slow, even with a north wind. (Remember the tides before the recent tsunami?) He knows it isn't a good sign, and he sends a wire to his boss. His boss at the national office won't let them issue warnings at state level, and they are never to use the word "tornado" lest panic ensue. The anemometer spins. In a matter of hours, between 8000-12000 people will die. Isaac will be blamed. Excerpt:

http://www.randomhouse.com/features/isaacsstorm/book/excerpt.html

Can't wait to get back to those good old days! Thanks, Georgie!

As you read it, you'll see horrifying shades of the direction * is taking us.

I've read a great deal *about* the book, visited websites about the storm, etc., but finally got the book for myself and can't put it down! This author makes it all so understandable -- I was concerned that it would be dry or too scientific. He writes well about the human side of the story, too. Amazing how it changed the history of Galveston forever. They blamed Isaac, and yes, Isaac believed that a huge storm could never demolish Galveston, and maybe he was a bit cocky; but he had so little information with which to predict anything! He lost many family members, too, that day. So sad.

As for GW Bush, yeah, he wants us to have as little info as possible about everything: science, drugs, sex, foreign policy, you name it. Then the Bushies fill in the ignorance gap with their own claptrap. That's their plan. NO THANKS. Sometimes I worry about my 5-year-old, but so far, here in a blue state, his teachers seem to lean to the liberal side of things! But if we ever sense a void somewhere, my husband and I will fill it. I won't have my child undereducated, period. Just this morning my husband was teaching him about Darwin, and he was quite fascinated! It occurred to me that this would probably be illegal in some places, right?
<sigh>

They were also crippled because the head of the National Weather Service wouldn't allow any communication with the dark heathens in Cuba. So when Cuba tried to warn the US that a hurricane was heading for Texas, the warning wasn't allowed through.

They played on the beach with no knowledge that there was a major hurricane fixin to trounce Galveston.

From weather related disasters.

They're expendible anyway...nothing to see here.

their citizens.

This seems just about right for a nation that is not yet a full-scale Tyranny, yet also not Free either.

Half-meaures, so to speak.

This makes perfect sense for Imperial Amerika.

Works great unless they dismantle the radar and advisory system.