Evacuations here can and do happen multiple times a year. If it is difficult to impossible to evacuate, one listens carefully for wind speeds, rainfall amt, timing in regards to tides and a dozen other, always-changing factors.
Huge areas of impact hang on small changes in the numbers. If cuts have the intended effect and forecast accuracy falls, people won't be able to make choices that saves lives. The granular data they once counted on won't be available.
For what it's worth I just interacted with one of them and they appeared to be in good spirits and eager to assist. I let them know on Monday that one of their weather radio transmitters was offline and by Tuesday they had it back online which is impressive given the cause was out of their control. Maybe they were the exception but that was a very pleasant experience, probably one of the best out of all the federal agencies I have interacted with recently.
To put a finer point on it can we say it's Accuweather's goal? I think at the end of the day Accuweather just wants to be a cash-making front end to NWS products.
Huge areas of impact hang on small changes in the numbers. If cuts have the intended effect and forecast accuracy falls, people won't be able to make choices that saves lives. The granular data they once counted on won't be available.