The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is the U.S. scientific and regulatory agency that studies and predicts changes in the environment. The agency’s mission includes weather forecasts, storm warnings, and climate monitoring. Management of coastal and marine ecosystems. Prevention and control of invasive species. International cooperation.
NOAA also collects, analyzes, and reports on a wealth of data, and one data point that interests me is wind speed. It seemed really windy to me this past year and sure enough, it has been. Average wind speeds over most of the contiguous U.S. have increased over the last 22 years, with a percent change of 4% or greater concentrated over the western half of the U.S. and the Northeast.
That’s good news—if you like to fly kites or, like I do, hang window mobiles and wind chimes. There’s bad news too, such as damage to my wind chimes and a window that’s fallen twice. But it’s not all about me. Higher winds lead to faster wildfire spread, uprooted trees, house and building damage, falling and flying debris, crap in your eyes, and other dangers.
Of course, wind and other dangerous weather events will only get worse as climate change intensifies, and worse still because NOAA will have fewer resources to do their work. No agency is being spared Musk and Trump’s blade. NOAA is losing about 25 percent of its workforce, more than 1,000 employees.
What a surprise.
Former NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad told AP News: “This is not government efficiency. It is the first steps toward eradication. There is no way to make these kinds of cuts without removing or strongly compromising mission capabilities.”
Stay alert folks. Without adequate warning from NOAA, you might not see that tornado or flood coming before it’s too late. But so what. We’re a nation of rugged individuals who pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. We don’t need no help from no deep-state government, not for nothing—not healthcare for the sick, not food for the poor, not a safety net for the elderly, not public education for our children, and definitely not to help against something that doesn’t even exist like climate change.
Wishful thinking: a hellacious wind gust blows MAGA right off this planet.
