Budget cuts in Washington are raising concerns for beach safety along the Alabama Gulf coast. The Associated Press is reported staff vacancies as bad as twenty percent at some National Weather Service offices. These are the people who provide forecasts, including beach safety information for both Alabama beach goers and lifeguards. Bruckner Chase is CEO of the Ocean Positive Foundation. He says the lack of forecasters could become even more of a concern with Memorial Day next month which marks the start of the state’s lucrative summer tourism season.
“We want you to check not just the weather, but the coastal forecast, the tide forecast, the swell forecast, for as specific as you can for the beach you're visiting, because those coastal conditions can change far faster than what you might be used to at home,” he said.
Data obtained by The Associated Press shows NWS stuff vacancies are twice the rate of just 10 years ago. Detailed vacancy data for all 122 weather field offices show eight offices are missing more than 35% of their staff — including those in Arkansas where tornadoes hit with torrential rain on its heels this week. Experts call it a crisis situation. 55 of 122 offices have what experts say are critical staffing shortages. Chase says cuts at the National Weather Service could reduce warnings about rip currents along the Alabama coast.
“It’s going to be harder if you've got a short staffed weather forecasting office, getting quicker information, getting the data analyzed and then translated to the meteorologist that you might be watching on TV at the Weather Channel,” he said.
The Memorial Day weekend next month marks the beginning of the lucrative summer tourism season in Alabama. The weather offices issue routine daily forecasts, but also urgent up-to-the-minute warnings during dangerous storm outbreaks such as the tornadoes that killed seven people this week and "catastrophic" flooding that's continuing through the weekend. The weather service this week has logged at least 75 tornado and over a thousand severe weather preliminary reports.
