Saturday, May 17, 2025

Kentucky Weather Forecasters Struggle with Staff Issues During Strong Storm

After hundreds of jobs were cut from the National Weather Service, offices like the one in eastern Kentucky have no overnight forecaster.

Posted by retort at 02:13 PM | 7 COMMENTS | permalink

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A National Weather Service office in Kentucky was scrambling to cover the overnight forecast on Friday as severe storms moved through much of the eastern U.S.

Comments

We can either have private weather forecasters, where your access to lifesaving weather alerts depend on your ability to pay a subscription,

or a patchwork of state forecasters trying to cover weather events that can easily span across a dozen states at the same time.

Neither sounds like it will make America great again to me.


#1 | Posted by horstngraben at 2025-05-17 02:46 PM

23 weather-related casualties were reported in the US. You wonder how budget cuts impacted local forecasting and warning systems. Source: abcnews.go.com

#2 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2025-05-17 03:08 PM

Someone IN the storm had to send in photos of a tornado before the NWS could get it declared a tornado because it was so understaffed.

#3 | Posted by Sycophant at 2025-05-17 05:02 PM

It's been a wild year for weather here in Kentucky, including unusually heavy snow, ice storms, two episodes of widespread flooding, and multiple tornado outbreaks. Trump and Musk are determined to eliminate anything that might be considered protection of American citizens - in this case, both the front-end warnings from NWS and the back-end recovery efforts by FEMA. Shameless cruelty and dereliction of duty are the MAGA brand.

#4 | Posted by cbob at 2025-05-17 05:59 PM

#3 A classic example of true DR ignorance in one post.

#5 | Posted by gracieamazed at 2025-05-17 06:12 PM

"Today the Republican relationship to truth and knowledge has gone to hell. MAGA is a fever swamp of lies, conspiracy theories, and scorn for expertise."

David Brooks

#6 | Posted by SomebodyElse at 2025-05-17 07:43 PM

Kentucky should've elected someone other than Moscow Mitch and Ayn Rand Paul. Too bad for them, I hope they don't want any of my California tax dollars to bail them out. Let them beg for money from Qatar.

#7 | Posted by chuffy at 2025-05-17 11:32 PM

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