The National Weather Service Employees Organization and the American Meteorological Society joined former top NOAA officials Saturday in criticizing the agency for defending President Trump's assertion that then-Hurricane Dorian could have impacted Alabama.
Why it matters: Per AP, the organizations and former NOAA officials, who served under Republican and Democratic presidents, are concerned the agency's statement rejecting the Birmingham office of the National Weather Service's statement that Alabama wouldn't be impacted by Dorian risks the credibility of the nation’s weather and science agency and may even risk lives.
Context: NOAA said in an unsigned statement Friday that Hurricane Dorian’s outermost winds had at most a 20% chance of reaching Alabama between Tuesday, Aug. 27 and Mon., Sept. 2.
The big picture: The condemnation of the statement comes as the Washington Post reports that nearly a week before NOAA publicly backed Trump over its own scientists, a top official from the agency warned its staff against contradicting the president.
- An agency-wide directive sent on Sept. 1 to NWS personnel after Trump made the Alabama claims advised staff to "only stick with official National Hurricane Center forecasts if questions arise from some national level social media posts which hit the news this afternoon" and not to "provide any opinion," according to WashPost, citing a copy of the email it had obtained.
What they're saying:
- The American Meteorological Society tweeted, "AMS believes the criticism of the Birmingham forecast office is unwarranted; rather they should have been commended for their quick action based on science in clearly communicating the lack of threat to the citizens of Alabama."
- Dan Sobien, president of the National Weather Service Employees Organization, called NOAA's action "utterly disgusting."
- Elbert "Joe" Friday, former Republican-appointed director of the NWS, said on Facebook, "This rewriting history to satisfy an ego diminishes NOAA." He told AP, "We don’t want to get the point where science is determined by politics rather than science and facts. And I’m afraid this is an example where this is beginning to occur."
- W. Craig Fugate, who was Florida emergency management chief under Republican Gov. Jeb Bush and director of FEMA under Democratic President Obama, said the action "falls into such uncharted territory," per AP.
Jane Lubchenco, NOAA administrator during the Obama administration, tweeted, "Using woefully out of date information is truly irresponsible, especially for a rapidly evolving situation. But covering up that mistake, and blaming the blameless is appalling."
Appalling political manipulation of @NOAA’s @NWS information. Shame on the White House and shame on whoever at NOAA was involved. NOAA Leadership Trades Scientific Integrity for Political Appeasement https://t.co/PvYmGyJBPq
— Jane Lubchenco (@JaneLubchenco) September 7, 2019
The other side: Trump tweeted that "the LameStream Media" wouldn't leave the story alone.
In addition to Florida - South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, will most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated. Looking like one of the largest hurricanes ever. Already category 5. BE CAREFUL! GOD BLESS EVERYONE!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 1, 2019
