Trump cuts to weather data could make forecasts less reliable, warn experts

"The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) late last year launched a suite of artificial intelligence-powered global weather forecast models which it said would improve speed, efficiency, and accuracy. In March, an agency official said those models are being trained with centuries of weather data. Artificial intelligence is a valuable tool for weather prediction, but only when it is well-trained with ample data, said Monica Medina, who served as Noaa's principal deputy undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere from 2009 to 2012."

"Under Trump, climate and weather data collection has declined, said Medina. This year, the Trump administration proposed a modest budget increase for the National Weather Service, but a 40% cut to Noaa overall. We absolutely need AI to help us crunch the data faster and to make sense of more and more data that we can collect, said Medina, who under Joe Biden also served as assistant secretary of state for oceans. But right now, what we're doing is cutting back the data collection we're going in the wrong direction."

"Despite the misinformation circulating about missing weather and climate data, there is, in fact, a wealth of weather data collected each day, from satellites in space, to a network of weather balloons, to buoys in the ocean, and land-based sensors. But widespread reports show staffing cuts have forced Noaa's National Weather Service to scale back satellites and balloon launches, key parts of the country's data collection system. And shrunk climate programs threaten ocean buoy networks and other observation systems, experts say."

The US faces hurricane season and record-breaking heat while federal climate and weather data programming faces proposed cuts. NOAA launched AI-powered global weather forecast models intended to improve speed, efficiency, and accuracy, and officials said the models are trained using centuries of weather data. AI can improve prediction only when trained with ample, high-quality observations. Under the Trump administration, climate and weather data collection has declined, while NOAA overall faces a large budget cut and the National Weather Service receives only a modest increase. Experts warn that reduced satellite and balloon launches and weakened climate programs can shrink observation networks, including ocean buoy systems, undermining forecast reliability when demand is highest.

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