Here's the thing---all these un-warned reports are being used as an excuse for another accu-weather bill
Natural Disaster review Board?
we might not even have a NOAA.
Jeff,
While I dislike going over this ground yet again, I will because it is important. There are multiple issues you bring up in your comment.
As far as I am concerned, it would be great if there was no NOAA. NOAA is
killing the NWS. They refused gap-filler radars, they are starving it of resources, and while it has been three years ago, the NOAA jet was unavailable for hurricane recon because it was doing "climate research" in Mexico. The nation would be far better off if the NWS was a stand-alone agency like NASA.
As to the "AccuWeather bill" you probably think you know what was in it based on rumor rather than reading the bill. Here's your chance to read the bill:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/109th-congress/senate-bill/786/text You see that it does
not privatize the NWS. You see that it
does focus the NWS on storm forecasting and storm warnings. It
does say the NWS cannot provide specialized services to entities like electric companies (something they were starting to do in the early 2000's). It also says the NWS must provide all of its data and forecasts to
everyone. Back in the early 2000's, we found out the NWS was creating a category of thunderstorm and severe thunderstorm guidance that it was providing to UCAR and other entities but not broadcast or private sector meteorologists. As we taxpayers fund the NWS, if they are going to create and provide something, it should go to everyone.
Saturday, we saw the effects of a catastrophic failure of government. The family of Cory Comparatore buried him today. He died shielding his daughter from gunfire. Two others were critically injured and a presidential candidate wounded.
In Joplin, the NWS (and local emergency management) catastrophically failed to do their jobs properly and 161 people died. AccuWeather, ironically since you brought them up, did its job flawlessly. We told our clients in Joplin, more than 30 minutes before the tornado reached the west side of the city, that "a tornado will move east across Joplin." The Missouri & Northern Arkansas Railroad (KCS didn't have any trains in the area at the time) moved a train out of the path along with the people accompanying the train. They sent us an emotional letter thanking us two days after the storm.
Just last month, the Whitman NE Tornado was utterly unwarned in spite of it being completely obvious on radar and members of StormTrack (and others, including the local EM) pleading with them to issue a TOR. They declined to do so.
Town Destroyed -- National Weather Service Misses Another Strong Tornado
There were serious issues with the weather forecasts involving the Maui Fire (103 dead) last year, with the forecasts for Hurricane Ian (155 dead, the worst in Florida since the 1938 Labor Day Hurricane) and for the recent Hurricane Beryl.
My point in citing these is that government can screw up very badly. Had AccuWeather failed, our clients would have fired us. Accountability! The Secret Service or NWS accountability? Not so much. The NDRB is an attempt to move in that direction because it seems that is the only way those issues will be fixed.
So,
while I am not currently in favor of a bill like Santorum's, if the NWS's continued deterioration continues, what would be so bad about the private sector providing these services?
Let me state again, I am
not (at this time) favoring a change in mission of the NWS. I'm asking this philosophically.
