Obviously, we are watching the developments surrounding NOAA and the National Weather Service and budget issues very closely. Here’s an update on where we stand and some apolitical thoughts on what’s going on.
One of the major issues we’ve discussed recently has been regarding staffing cuts leading to fewer weather balloon launches each day. That continues to be a problem. There has been some minor progress, however. Representative Mike Flood, a Nebraska Republican congressman has been one of a handful of political leaders that has been fairly vocal on the risks of this. In short, he gets it. The good news is that balloon launches are scheduled to return to Omaha, and improvements in launch frequency are slated for some other High Plains and Northern Plains locations. The bad news is that staffing is coming from other offices. In other words, the risk is that we may be creating more problems by solving one problem.
CenterPoint Energy plans to install a network of 100 weather stations across its 12-county service territory in the Greater Houston area before hurricane season kicks off on June 1, the company announced Monday.
The weather stations are expected to help the Houston-area electric utility better forecast severe weather and more precisely distribute resources, among other improvements, according to CenterPoint’s statement.
“Our weather network will provide invaluable situational awareness, in real-time, to help us act quickly, proactively and precisely before weather threatens to impact the electrical system and our customers,” Matt Lanza, CenterPoint’s meteorology manager, said in the statement.
The weather stations work by taking measurements on metrics such as humidity levels, wind speed, temperature and rainfall every two to five minutes, according to CenterPoint’s announcement.
CenterPoint’s plan to build its own weather network is part of its continued efforts to prepare for the 2025 hurricane season, so that the utility improves upon its widely-criticized response to last year’s Hurricane Beryl.
In fact, a third-party review of CenterPoint’s response to Beryl found that the utility’s damage prediction model at the time was “largely ineffective” in preparing the company for the Category 1 hurricane, because the model relied on limited weather data.
CenterPoint’s effort also comes as the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency has targeted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration with funding and staffing cuts — an issue Lanza has written about in his much-followed hurricane blog, “The Eyewall.”
The Trump administration ousted hundreds of scientists and experts this week who were working on the National Climate Assessment, a key report used by the city of Houston to gauge hazards from extreme weather risks such as hurricanes.
The move had an immediate impact in Texas, where several researchers had been working on the assessment to help communities deal with climate impacts. More than 400 scientists across the country who volunteered their time to assemble the report — including at least four in Texas — were cut loose.
“We are now releasing all current assessment participants from their roles,” said an email that landed in the inbox of hundreds of scholars on Monday.
“I refer people to the National Climate Assessment as the best source of comprehensive information on actual or potential climate impact by region and by sector across the United States,” said John Nielsen-Gammon, Texas’ state climatologist and a professor of meteorology at Texas A&M University.
Nielsen-Gammon said that for things like extreme weather trends, he will often check his own Texas-specific analysis against the national assessments and refer to their primary sources to verify that the research lines up. He said the iterative release of national-level reports ensures that everyone is adjusting frequently to new findings, and keeps climate impacts in the conversation. Houston has relied on the assessments in the past for its own extreme weather planning.
The city “references the National Climate Assessment when conducting hazard assessments, a key part of the planning and preparedness cycle,” said Mel Bartis, deputy director of the city’s Office of Emergency Management.
The report “is useful in understanding weather and climate trends and was referenced in developing the hazard profiles in the 2023 Hazard Mitigation Plan,” she said.