Waiting For The Worst
While waiting for Invest 91 to become the next tropical storm of the season, we can review our ever-reducing ability to monitor and forecast severe weather.
I wrote earlier about the ‘death’ of QuikSCAT, a satellite, and an important tool in watching Atlantic storms. It out-lived its designed life-span by 7 years, but a Republican Congress and President refused to authorize a replacement.
Now, the word is that a House committee wants to cut the number of research missions of NOAA’s Hurricane Hunter aircraft. Apparently they can’t connect the research with better warning for coastal states, and more accurate landfall forecasts. This is all the more bizarre because the states most heavily affected by hurricanes, are primarily majority Republican.
One is left with the conclusion that Republicans hate knowledge, and anything associated with expanding it, like education and research.
