More tornadoes and fewer meteorologists make for a dangerous mix that's worrying US officials [View all]
WASHINGTON (AP) — As nasty tornadoes popped up from Kansas to Kentucky, a depleted National Weather Service was in scramble mode.
The agency’s office in Jackson, Kentucky, had begun closing nightly as deep cuts by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency began hitting. But the weather service kept staffers on overtime Friday night to stay on top of the deadly storms, which killed nearly 20 people in the Jackson office’s forecast area.
It’s a scenario likely to be repeated as the U.S. is on track to see more tornadoes this year than in 2024, which was the second-busiest tornado year on record. Forecasters said there was at least a 10% risk of tornadoes Tuesday for 10.6 million people in parts of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas. Weather service veterans expressed concern about the agency’s ability to keep up in the face of the cuts.
Rich Thompson, lead operations forecaster at the NWS Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, said the job is getting done. But he acknowledged that staffing cuts have “made it harder on us.”
https://apnews.com/article/tornadoes-weather-service-cuts-doge-9ec14130bd238d46048a2c2ea4cc8311
But think of all the billionaire tax breaks! Eloon Musk wants to be the first trillionaire.
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