Miami, Jacksonville, Houston Cut Weather Staff
A new analysis shows that weather office staffing during hurricane season will be worse than expected. This puts both property and lives at risk.
The Guardian did the research. Fifteen National Weather Service along the Gulf of Mexico will be understaffed. This area, along with the lower east coast of Florida, is the most likely place for hurricanes to make landfall. The reporters say, “Several offices, including in Miami, Jacksonville, Puerto Rico and Houston, lack at least a third of all the meteorologists required to be fully staffed.” The paper notes that the staff at these locations collaborate when hurricanes threaten the area.
The news is particularly troubling because most weather experts expect the Atlantic Hurricane Season, which started this month, will be particularly active.
Florida Hurricanes
The West Coast of Florida is a perfect example of why understaffing poses dangers. However, over the last several decades, the damage from Key West north to the Carolinas has been just as terrible. With rising seas, this may even be worse in the following decades.
It is hard to imagine how Florida West Coast homeowners and businesses would have coped with Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Billions of dollars of damage were the result of these. The weather offices in Florida were fully operational at the time. The same was true when Hurricane Beryl savaged Houston.
A storm that proves the danger of understaffing may not occur this hurricane season, but it will soon.
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