| By Lauren Rosenthal Days after floods killed at least 135 people in Texas Hill Country, weather scientist Neil Jacobs appeared before a Senate committee as the nominee to lead the US agency that oversees forecasting. He vowed to create a cutting-edge weather modeling system while also pledging support for President Donald Trump’s plan to dramatically shrink the agency. It’s a hard balance to strike. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has sole responsibility for issuing life-saving weather alerts in the US. The agency — which once employed 12,000 — is reeling from the departure of hundreds of staff. Dozens of forecasting offices are without a chief meteorologist or a warning coordinator who communicates with emergency managers ahead of dangerous storms. The Commerce Department has opened inquiries into the effectiveness of the Texas flood warnings and whether the agency is ready to respond to future disasters; the agency is likely to be tested again very soon, as the heart of hurricane season nears.  A damaged building at Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas. Photographer: Eli Hartman/Bloomberg
Other offices lack staff to launch weather balloons and track local conditions. Those shortages are creating gaps in NOAA data and tools that have been used by businesses in a wide array of industries for plotting strategy and planning day-to-day operations. The White House’s proposed budget would eliminate NOAA’s research division, cut more than 2,200 positions and reduce funding by about 29% overall —changes that Congress must approve. Jacobs has assured senators that NOAA would still be able to continue its “mission-essential” operations if they sign off on this unprecedented transformation. In his confirmation hearing, Jacobs said he supports Trump’s cuts, while providing few details about how NOAA plans to fund his modeling program or hire additional staffers at weather prediction centers. Still, he received enough support to advance his confirmation out of committee. While it appears likely he will return as NOAA's boss, his appointment still requires Senate approval.  Neil Jacobs during a briefing about hurricane season in the Oval Office in 2020. Photographer: Evan Vucci/AP Photo "Dr. Neil Jacobs is exceptionally qualified to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration," White House spokesperson Kush Desai said. "Having served as acting NOAA administrator during President Trump’s first term, he brings the experience and expertise needed to provide life-saving forecast predictions. We look forward to his swift confirmation.” Unlike some of the agency chiefs appointed by Trump, Jacobs, 51, has spent his career immersed in the subject matter his new position would govern. He’s a celebrated weather modeling expert who served as NOAA’s interim chief during Trump’s first term in office, and he wants it to pursue a new weather prediction system that would be the best-performing in the world. He’s spent the last several years working on NOAA-funded research on improving forecasting capabilities, which he has said are a matter of “saving people’s lives.” Jacobs did not respond to repeated requests for comment. NOAA did not respond to a request for comment or updated staffing numbers. Neither did its parent, the US Department of Commerce. NOAA and its parent, the US Department of Commerce, did not provide updated staffing numbers in response to a request from Bloomberg Green. Despite being embroiled in a scandal during his tenure at NOAA known as “Sharpiegate,” he has the support of many current and former agency staff. But a dozen colleagues told Bloomberg Green that Jacobs is likely to face even more challenging circumstances now, including a demoralized workforce facing nonstop efforts to gut federal science agencies and climate research.
“I would like to think he learned an important lesson about holding your ground leading an organization,” said Rick Spinrad, a former NOAA administrator who spent more than a decade at the agency under Republican and Democratic presidents. “I’m hopeful that he’s learned how to fight within the political system—because he is going to have to fight.” Continue reading this story on Bloomberg.com. | 
