Well, howdy there, Internet people, it's Bell again.

So today, we're going to talk about how Trump's cuts did not help Alaska.

Western Alaska was hammered by powerful storms spawned by Typhoon Hulong.

The storms were devastating. It didn't take long for reporting

to surface that, surprise, Trump's cuts to America's weather prediction services made the forecast

less accurate. The National Weather Service uses weather balloons to obtain a lot of data.

But ever since, the Department of

Government Efficiency cut staff in programs they don't seem to have understood. The weather

balloon data has been limited because the balloons haven't been launched. Balloon data is fed

into computers and contributes to NWS's global forecast system.

The storm hit western Alaska.

There are six stations that launch balloons on the western coast of Alaska.

Exactly none are operating the way they should right now.

Some aren't launching any balloons. Some are only launching half the

typical number. The forecast for the storm consistently showed it to the northwest of the areas

that eventually became some of the most heavily hit. It's relatively safe to assume that additional

data would have made the forecasts more accurate

and helped people. On Monday, Coast Guard Captain Christopher Cole Pepper said, quote,

Several of these villages have been completely devastated, absolutely flooded, several feet

deep. This took homes off of foundations.

This took people in apparel, where folks were swimming, floating, trying to find debris

to hold onto in the cover of darkness. The forecast is being called a major model failed by experts.

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