Below is a transcript of the letter that I sent to Utah Senator John Curtis concerning the cuts being proposed for NOAA and the National Weather Service by President Trump and DOGE. A slightly modified version was sent to Representative Blake Moore and submitted to the Salt Lake Tribune for consideration as Public Commentary. If enacted, these cuts will put the safety of Utahn's at risk. Media reports suggest that the cuts being considered are 30% to the budget and 50% to personnel. There is no private sector company today ready to take on the enormous responsibility of protecting life and property in Utah from high-impact weather and cuts to the National Weather Service will weaken their ability to provide critical decisions support services to emergency managers. If you agree (or even if you disagree and want to share an alternative opinion), please consider writing your legislative leaders.
Dear Senator Curtis:
I am a Professor of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Utah who has worked for 30 years to improve weather prediction in Utah. I lead research to improve the understanding and prediction of winter storms in Utah’s mountains and develop methods to improve snowfall forecasting across the continental United States using artificial intelligence. The forecast techniques my group has developed are used by the National Weather Service and private companies. I am also proud to have served as the graduate advisor for several Air Force officers who are contributing to weather support for our Nation’s defense. I write today as a private citizen. The views expressed in this letter are mine and independent from the University of Utah.
I am deeply concerned about the cuts being proposed by President Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, especially the National Weather Service. The National Weather Service is widely recognized in public surveys as one of our Nation’s most important government agencies. The United States probably has the most diverse range of high-impact weather systems of any country in the world including hurricanes and tropical cyclones, floods and flash floods, tornadoes, heat waves, cold waves, winter storms, downslope windstorms, and wind-driven wildfires. Many of these affect Utah, including flash floods in canyon country, winter storms statewide, and downslope windstorms (also known as canyon winds) along the northern Wasatch Front and other areas of Utah. The National Weather Service provides essential weather forecasts to protect lives and property during these high-impact weather events. They provide timely and accurate weather forecasts and have developed strong relationships with emergency managers and other partners to prepare for storms, respond to weather-related hazards, and provide decision support services.
The National Weather Service Forecast Office in Salt Lake City provides forecasts and decision support services for most of the State of Utah. The National Weather Service is currently understaffed due to chronically low hiring rates over the past several years. Current hiring freezes and staffing reductions will further exacerbate this situation, placing Utah’s emergency response to high-impact weather at risk. One need only look to the recent wildfires in California to see how vulnerable urban areas in downslope wind areas can be during drought. Utah is not immune to such wildfire hazards, especially along the northern Wasatch Front, but also in many other regions.
The National Weather Service is also critical for our Nation’s weather, water, and climate enterprise, which has benefited from the long-term synergy between the public, private, academic, and military sectors to improve weather observations and forecasts. I have observed this throughout my career but also during the time I spent as an elected member of the Council of the American Meteorological Society, which serves all four of these sectors. The National Weather Service and its partners in NOAA, the FAA, the Department of Defense, and NASA, develop and maintain foundational weather observing systems including geostationary and polar orbiting satellites, surveillance weather radars, and surface observing systems at airports and other weather sensitive locations. The National Weather Service also runs a complex suite of computer forecast models that take all this weather data and provide forecasts for the Nation, as well as American interests around the world. This data is freely available to the public, including private companies, who in turn produce value-added products for their customers. For example, I have former students who use National Weather Service data to improve efficiency and profitability at companies such as Amazon Prime Air.
The proposed cuts in the National Weather Service budget and staffing come at a time when we are entering our Nation’s must vulnerable period for high-impact weather: the spring tornado season; hurricane season (beginning June 1st); and wildfire season, which in some areas of the western US is now year round, but will expand across other areas of the west in the coming months.
Historically, support for the National Weather Service and weather observations, forecasts, and research has been bipartisan. Even this week, Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Alex Padilla (D-CA) announced bipartisan legislation to improve the atmospheric river forecasting, an activity that would benefit Utah. I ask that you work to ensure adequate funding and staffing of the National Weather Service so that they can fully meet their mission of protecting lives and property here in the State of Utah.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Dr. Jim Steenburgh
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