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The head of the National Ocean and Atmosphere Administration tried to balance things out when he talked about the controversy over Statements by President Donald Trump on Hurricane Dorian threatening Alabama. NOAA Acting Administrator, Neil Jacobs, addressed the issue at an in camera meeting of National Weather Association employees in Huntsville, Ala., On Tuesday.
Jacobs told the weather group that a NOAA statement on Friday criticizing Birmingham's local forecast bureau for its contradiction with Mr Trump aimed to clarify "the technicalities" of Dorian's potential impact.
"What was not said, however, was that we fully understood and supported the good intentions of the meteorological office, which was to calm fears for public safety," said Jacobs. career meteorologist. "I am proud of the outstanding work done by all weather forecasters, including Birmingham, during the storm, not to mention Charleston and Wilmington."
He added: "I will do everything in my power to support you in your essential mission to protect the life and property of the American people".
Jacobs appeared close to tears at one point, reported the Associated Press.
NOAA has been heavily criticized for its statement Friday reprimanding Birmingham meteorologists for contradicting Trump's tweet. NOAA's own chief scientist said Monday it examines the agency's statement as a potential violation of the guidelines for scientific integrity.
Evan Vucci / AP
The controversy erupted for the first time on Sunday, Sept. 1, when Mr. Trump tweeted Alabama could be affected by Hurricane Dorian. "In addition to Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia and Alabama will most likely be hit (a lot) harder than expected," he wrote.
The Birmingham National Meteorological Office said a few minutes later, tweeted, "Alabama will not see any impact from #Dorian." We repeat, no impact of Hurricane #Dorian will be felt across Alabama. will stay too far to the east. "
After President Trump insisted that Alabama was in danger, displaying a map in the Oval Office with a line drawn to include the state, NOAA issued a statement supporting it, which contradicts the own meteorologists from the agency.
"The Sunday morning tweet from the Birmingham National Weather Service spoke in absolute terms, which was inconsistent with the probabilities of the best forecast products available at that time," the statement said.
The National Meteorological Service staff organization responded by calling the NOAA statement "totally disgusting and hypocritical". And in a letter sent Monday to colleagues by email, Craig McLean, NOAA's acting chief scientist, called the agency's statement of "policy" and potential violation of the rules of integrity scientist.
McLean said the agency's statement "inappropriately and incorrectly contradicts the NWS forecaster" for both political and non-scientific reasons. This, he wrote, is "very worrying because it compromises NOAA's ability to pass on the life-saving information necessary to avoid a real and specific danger to the health and safety of the public. public can not trust our information, or if we minimize the warnings of our forecaster and products, this specific danger arises. "
Tuesday, Jacobs sought to calm the fears of employees of the National Weather Association. The speech of Jacobs did not give rise to any manifestation or protest.
Kevin Laws, chief scientist and operations manager at the Weather Services Bureau in Birmingham, said he had enjoyed the words of Jacobs, whom he has known for 20 years.
"Absolutely no grudge," said Laws.
Jacobs' remarks came one day after Louis Uccellini, director of the National Meteorological Service, said Birmingham forecasters had done a good job of trying to correct the facts and reassure residents of Alabama.
"They did this with one goal in mind: public safety," said Uccellini, who caused a standing ovation by asking Birmingham's weather staff to stand up.
-Associated Press contributed to the report.
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