Federal cuts: Hurricane aircraft's Sarasota stop in public awareness campaign scrapped
As the six-month hurricane season looms, cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are already making a local impact.
NOAA scrapped a pre-season public awareness event at the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport set for Thursday during the national hurricane preparedness week, which runs May 4-8. The cancelation of a scheduled visit from a Hurricane Hunter aircraft to draw attention to the need to prepare early for the season that begins June 1 comes as NOAA has undergone significant layoffs and funding cuts − and as the Sarasota area braces for what could be another extreme storm season.
Hurricane experts from NOAA were scheduled months ago to visit Sarasota Bradenton International Airport in a Hurricane Hunter aircraft — which flies through tropical cyclones, including fierce hurricanes, to gather vital data — as part of the organization's Hurricane Awareness Tour.
Public awareness and education is considered a critical element of hurricane preparedness, especially given the state's vulnerability to storms and rapidly growing population, with a constant influx of people from areas that don't regularly experience tropical weather. Knowing how and when to prepare, what type of evacuation zone you're in, whether you're in a flood zone and other information can be life and death information.
But the event was scrapped early this year as President Donald Trump's administration implemented budget cuts.
Jennifer Hubbard, a warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Tampa, cited NOAA's implemented 'travel restrictions' as a reason for the cancelation in an email to the Herald-Tribune. She declined to comment further.
The event was set toward the end of Sarasota County's hurricane preparedness week, which has already seen a host of events aimed at educating the community on how to get ready for storm season. The county has emphasized a different component of hurricane preparedness each day this week:
Sunday, May 4: Know Your Risk: Water & Wind
Monday, May 5: Prepare Before Hurricane Season
Tuesday, May 6: Understand Forecast Information
Wednesday, May 7: Get Moving When a Storm Threatens
Thursday, May 8: Stay Protected During Storms
Friday, May 9: Use Caution After Storms
Saturday, May 10: Take Action Today
NOAA is a comprehensive federal organization that studies Earth's atmosphere, oceans and climate. NOAA includes components like the National Weather Service, which provides forecasts and warnings from regional offices across the country, and it typically releases a forecast for hurricane season — which runs June 1 to Nov. 30 — on May 15.
The Trump administration laid off an estimated 650 NOAA employees — including two Hurricane Hunter flight directors and an electronic engineer — in February in the name of cutting government spending. NOAA employees have been told to expect a 50% reduction in its staff of almost 12,000.
The cuts, NOAA scientists say, could impede NOAA's forecasting ability, hindering a key element of public safety. Last year's seasonal forecast predicted eight to 13 hurricanes and four to seven major hurricanes — in line with the 11 hurricanes and five major hurricanes that formed in 2024, including the three that struck Sarasota-Manatee.
More: Plan to merge New College and USF Sarasota-Manatee halted at legislative session
Other organizations like the Climate Adaptation Center (CAC) — a nonprofit organization comprised of climate scientists, executives and entrepreneurs — supplement NOAA services with activities of their own. The CAC issued its prediction of 17 named storms, 10 hurricanes and five major hurricanes last month: an above-average season similar to last year's historic parade of storms.
Bob Bunting, the center's CEO, said forecasting services from organizations like NOAA and the CAC are essential to the Sarasota area. In a region that saw three hurricanes in 65 days, Bunting said residents should know what to expect as quickly and accurately as possible to properly prepare.
'Our community is so vulnerable,' Bunting said. 'Early preparation here has a different meaning.'
More: Sarasota City Commission reboots city manager search, decides to hire new firm to help
No component of preparation — securing your home, stocking up on supplies and making an evacuation plan — is possible without knowing when or where a hurricane is set to hit, Bunting said. Cutting-edge research and technology from organizations like NOAA have allowed millions of people in vulnerable areas, including the more-than 65,000 Sarasota County residents who live in Flood Zone A, to weather an increasingly severe onslaught of storms.
'They then can evacuate, prepare, get their houses ready,' Bunting said, 'the million little things that communities do to survive these climate impacts.'
Contact Herald-Tribune Reporter Heather Bushman at hbushman@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @hmb_1013.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Federal NOAA cuts hit hurricane awareness, possibly season forecasting
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