U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross threatened to fire top weather experts for contradicting President Donald Trump’s faulty forecast of Hurricane Dorian striking Alabama, The New York Times reported Monday.
While a very early forecast map by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration showed a slight chance Dorian would sweep across Alabama, all revised forecasts said the state would see no impact from the storm.
When Jacobs objected, Ross said political appointees at NOAA would be fired.
The threat was followed by an unsigned NOAA press release last Friday criticizing the National Weather Service’s Birmingham, Alabama, office for contradicting Trump. The press release also disavowed forecasts showing Alabama would be safe.
According to the newspaper, an unnamed administration official said Alabama forecasters were only looking to embarrass the president and had no concern for the safety of the people of the state. The official provided no evidence to back his conclusion.
There has been no comment from the Commerce Department or White House. Scientists inside NOAA are reportedly outraged at the tempest swirling around the storm controversy.
Acting chief scientist Craig McLean wrote in an email to agency staffers that he is “pursuing potential violations” of the agency’s policy of scientific integrity.
“This intervention to contradict the forecaster was not based on science but on external factors, including reputation and appearance. Or simply put, political,” he wrote.
National Weather Service forecasters from the Birmingham office got a standing ovation at an annual meeting of meteorologists Monday when NWS director Louis Uccellini praised them for accurate Dorian forecasts and making public safety their priority.
Hurricane Dorian struck the U.S. southeast coast last week after ravaging the Bahamas, but it never approached Alabama.