I’m a weather geek, and I’ve spent more time than I should watching tornado videos on YouTube, particularly those by Hank Schyma of Houston, Texas. His videography is stunning, but his message is always clear: storm chasing is dangerous because tornadoes are extremely dangerous. Watch his videos and you will sometimes see the immediate aftermath of wrecked buildings and lives. Schyma’s videos are also a testament of why we need a fully funded National Weather Service.
According to the American Meteorological Society, the NWS provides an
economic benefit 10 times more than what it costs to run the service, which amounts to about $4 per year for each U.S. taxpayer.
In yet another case of “stupid is as stupid does,” NWS is another victim of “DOGE cuts” and now sees staffing rates at its 122 field offices at around 80 percent, with some offices down by over 40 percent. What that means is that offices don’t have enough staff to cover what needs to be covered. And what sometimes needs to be covered literally comes down to a difference between life and death.
When you get your weather alerts via your phone, weather radio or emergency siren system in your county, there is a group of trained meteorologists behind those alerts. Those alerts save lives, whether they are for tornadoes, flash floods, wildfires, hurricanes and severe thunderstorms.
It seems to me that all this is certainly worth the price of a yearly cup of coffee.
