Everyone in Florida is watching news reports, five-day paths, and brightly-colored maps as one hurricane churns in the Atlantic and a tropical system forming near eastern Cuba and the southeastern Bahamas is expected to become Tropical Storm Imelda within a day or so.
What happens if the government shuts down? Do the updates stop coming, during a newly invigorated hurricane season?
Conflict between President Donald Trump and congressional Democrats over funding and health care policies could result in a partial shutdown of the United States federal government just after midnight on Wednesday, Oct. 1 if an agreement can’t be reached.
When that happens, all nonessential federal workers will be temporarily furloughed (or possibly laid off this time). Essential workers such as active-duty military, air traffic controllers, TSA officials, etc., will stay on their jobs without pay as long as they can afford to.
Fortunately, weather forecasters and support personnel have traditionally been considered essential.
“In the event of a government shutdown, NWS products, watches and warnings will continue to be issued as normal and will not be affected,” NOAA spokesperson Maria M. Torres said in a Sept. 26 email. “We cannot provide further comment at this time.”
“NWS provides the nation with continuous climate, water, space weather, weather observations, forecasts and warnings, and Impact-based Decision Support Services (IDSS) during hazardous conditions,” according to the 2023 contingency plan for the U.S. Department of Commerce, which oversees the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and its divisions, the National Weather Service (NWS) and the National Hurricane Center (NHC).
“This work is critical and necessary to protect life and property in the country and parts of the world through international agreements. Offices operate on a 24 hour/7 days a week or 16 hour/7 days a week schedule to provide forecasts, warnings, data, critical expertise, and IDSS.”
Assuming the Commerce department follows the same plan this time, weather alerts and forecasts should continue uninterrupted and weather radars, satellites, and observation stations will keep running. However, any nessary repairs or upgrades will be postponed until funding is resolved, which could be a problem during severe weather.
Will I still get tropical weather forecasts and hurricane maps if the government shutdown happens?
The front page of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration website during the 2018-2019 government shutdown.
Yes. You shouldn’t see a break in service or quality, although nonessential areas of the NOAA, NHC and NWS websites will not be updated and the hurricane center and weather service social media posts will be limited to only alerts to protect lives and property.
“Weather services offices will continue to operate on their regular schedule, either 16 hours /7 days or 24 hours/ 7 days a week as needed,” said Sarah Teefey, National Weather Service meteorologist, in a 2023 email.
During a shutdown, NWS observations, forecasts and warnings, as well as decision support services should also continue uninterrupted, she said, as well as critical functions such as emergency maintenance or repair of operational systems.
However, NWS and NHC forecasters and support staff will be working without pay for the duration, which may become more of a problem the longer the shutdown continues.
What services will continue at NOAA if the government shutdown happens?
Weather, water, and climate observing, prediction, forecast, warning and support, and critical functions such as repair of operational systems will continue. Per the 2023 contingency plan, the Department of Commerce also will maintain, among other non-weather functions:
Law enforcement activities for the protection of marine fisheries.
Fisheries management activities including quota monitoring, observer activities and regulatory actions to prevent overfishing.
Water level data for ships entering U.S. ports, critical nautical chart updates and accurate position information.
Maintenance, continuity and protection of certain research property and critical data records
What services will stop at NOAA if the government shutdown happens?
“Routine equipment maintenance, model upgrades, new product development, and other longer-term improvements to service delivery will be delayed” at the NWS, Teefey said.
Otherwise, mostly non-essential research. According to the Department of Commerce, when the last shutdown happened in 2018-2019 most research activities at NOAA were stopped, with exceptions for real-time regular models on research computers used for hurricane and FAA flight planning. That included projects from Oceanic and Atmospheric Research and the Office of Marine and Aviation Operations.
Functions that would be excepted from the shutdown, according to the 2023 plan, include (among other things):
Supporting activities with other agencies to protect against “significant and imminent threats to human life and property.”
Research that provides “key environmental information needed for operational climate and weather products to the NWS in support of predictions, lead time and accuracy of severe weather warnings, tsunami detection, and forecasting to protect against significant and imminent threats to human life and property.”
Critical support for products needed to determine air quality, weather, and climate variability, acidification, hydrothermal vent systems, fisheries oceanography, and long-term climate monitoring in collaboration with multiple academic partnerships and international coalitions and research institutions worldwide.
Protecting and maintaining NOAA’s aircraft and facilities.
Vessel and aircraft operations in support of other excepted functions such as Right Whale Surveys.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Hurricane updates to continue through government shutdown, NOAA says