FACT SHEET: Trump’s Cuts to Weather Forecasting and Disaster Response Leave Texas and the Nation Vulnerable to Extreme Weather
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The devastating Fourth of July flash flood in Texas that killed more than 100 people is a stark reminder of how Donald Trump’s reckless cuts to weather forecasting and disaster preparedness are leaving Americans vulnerable when they need protection most. As rescue crews continue searching for those missing along the Guadalupe River, experts are warning that Trump’s policies – which have gutted the National Weather Service, slashed NOAA funding, and eliminated critical disaster and climate tracking – are making deadly events like this more likely and more severe.
While recovery efforts continue, one thing is clear: Trump’s systematic dismantling of America’s weather forecasting and disaster preparedness capabilities is putting lives at risk at the worst possible time.
TRUMP’S CUTS HAVE CRIPPLED WEATHER FORECASTING NATIONWIDE
Trump slashed funding and staff for the National Weather Service, leaving critical forecast offices understaffed during extreme weather events.
- Trump’s cuts have left nearly half of National Weather Service forecast offices with 20% vacancy rates and 30 of 122 offices missing their chief meteorologist.
- Texas National Weather Service offices responsible for the flood area were missing several key positions during the deadly flash flood, including a senior hydrologist, a staff forecaster, a meteorologist in charge, and the warning coordination meteorologist – the person who acts as the liaison with emergency management officials.
- Understaffing is forcing meteorologists to choose “between gathering information that will help in the future and warning about immediate danger” during extreme weather events.
Trump’s cuts have reduced the accuracy of weather forecasts by halting critical data collection.
- Trump’s staffing cuts have halted or reduced weather balloon launches in at least 11 locations across the country, threatening forecast accuracy and putting Americans facing floods, tornadoes, and other extreme weather at increased risk.
- The National Weather Service has halted weather balloon operations at multiple locations due to staffing shortages, reducing the amount of critical atmospheric data available for forecasting.
- In California, at least two National Weather Service offices no longer have enough staff to operate overnight: Hanford and Sacramento, which together cover nearly all of the Central Valley and Sierra Nevada mountains.
Trump eliminated the tracking of billion-dollar disasters just as extreme weather is becoming more frequent and costly.
- Trump ended NOAA’s tracking of the most costly extreme weather events – those that cause over $1 billion in damage. This data is critical for measuring the impacts of extreme weather disasters and preparing for future catastrophic events.
- The database’s last update before Trump shut it down confirmed that there were 27 weather and climate disasters with losses exceeding $1 billion each in the United States in 2024. In the 1980s, the nation averaged just 3.3 such events per year.
- The majority of Americans – 72% – say the federal government should play a role in tracking weather events and warning people about natural disasters.
- Trump also shut down the U.S. Global Change Research Program’s website, which housed congressionally mandated reports and research on climate change.
Donald Trump’s cabinet officials and top appointees have ties to individuals and companies that would benefit from privatizing weather alerts.
- New reporting from the AP shows how Donald Trump and his Project 2025 agenda are gunning to privatize weather agencies like NOAA and the National Weather Service, forcing Americans to pay for life-saving weather alerts.
- Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has set his adult sons up to profit from privatizing weather forecasting.
- Trump’s nominee to lead NOAA, Neil Jacobs, was an executive at one such private weather services. Another NOAA nominee, Taylor Jordan, is a lobbyist for clients with the same aim of privatization.
TRUMP’S CUTS THREATEN HURRICANE SEASON PREPAREDNESS
With hurricane season underway, Trump’s cuts are reducing forecasting capabilities when they’re needed most.
- Trump laid off hundreds of employees from NOAA, including hurricane hunters and researchers at the National Severe Storm Laboratory.
- 62% of voters – including 51% of Republicans – oppose staff and funding cuts to NOAA
- In southeastern states like Florida, officials are grappling with reduced hurricane forecasting capabilities at the height of hurricane season.
TRUMP’S CUTS HAVE WEAKENED DISASTER RESPONSE
Trump has gutted disaster relief as climate disasters are becoming more frequent and severe.
- Trump cut disaster-response training for local and state emergency managers and eliminated door-to-door canvassing in disaster areas by federal relief workers.
- FEMA announced it was ending the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program, which distributed funding for communities to prepare for extreme weather events.
Trump has politicized disaster aid and threatened to eliminate federal relief entirely.
- Trump has politicized and withheld disaster relief, denying states’ disaster aid relief requests while prioritizing others, and plans to make it harder for communities to qualify for federal aid.
- Trump has threatened to eliminate federal disaster relief entirely, despite state and local officials saying they would be unable to make up the funds if federal aid were eliminated.
- This flies in the face of what the American people want – 81% of Americans say the federal government should play a role in providing aid to communities in the immediate aftermath of natural disasters.
- And remember: Trump politicized disaster aid in his first term.
- In November 2018, Trump initially withheld wildfire relief due to California being a blue state, and only changed his mind after being shown voter maps demonstrating that heavily damaged Orange County had significant numbers of Trump supporters.
- In 2020, Trump reportedly withheld federal relief to Washington following wildfires due to his dislike of Democratic Governor Inslee.
- After Hurricane Maria, Trump delayed over $20 billion in aid to Puerto Rico as thousands died and the island went without power for 11 months.
TRUMP’S POLICIES ARE MAKING THE CLIMATE CRISIS WORSE
Climate change is making extreme weather more frequent and deadly – and Trump is accelerating the problem.
- The Texas flood was marked by the type of extremely intense, highly localized downpour that is becoming much more common due to climate change. Portions of the Guadalupe River rose 26 feet in less than an hour.
- Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent, damaging, and deadly, with 27 separate billion-dollar climate disasters hitting the United States in 2024 alone — compared to an average of 3 in the 1980s.
- Trump’s policies – from eliminating protections to gutting clean energy – are making the climate crisis worse and leaving us defenseless against worsening disasters.
Meanwhile, 86% of Americans say that the federal government should have a role in combating climate change to try to keep extreme weather from getting worse