The US government shutdown will impact many of that country’s government services, but the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) mission-critical tropical cyclone forecasting capacity will not be impacted due to the lapse of congressional appropriations.
An automated response from a NOAA communications public affairs officer stated: “National Weather Service products, watches and warnings will continue to be issued as normal and will not be affected.”
The UN’s World Meteorological Organization has designated the US National Hurricane Center under NOAA as a Regional Specialised Meteorological Centre for tropical cyclone forecasting for the Caribbean Sea, including the Cayman Islands.
Details about the impacts of the shutdown on the operations of NOAA are included in the contingency plan of the US Department of Commerce.
That plan makes it clear that the US Office of Management and Budget requires the Department of Commerce and NOAA to maintain a plan for operations in the absence of appropriations.
These include functions and activities that relate “to emergencies where there is a reasonable likelihood that the safety of human life or the protection of property would be compromised, in some significant degree, by delay in performance”.
The document also provides details about which of the commerce department’s responsibilities will be unaffected by a funding lapse: “the Department will continue to provide weather, water, and climate observations, prediction, forecasting, warning and related support”.
However, the document makes it clear that most research activities will cease at NOAA during the shutdown.
That does not include research related to high-performance supercomputing, though. The contingency plan states, “The supercomputers are necessary to continue computation that provides the National Weather Service with data and archive functions for operational models for weather forecasting.”
Also, the National Hurricane Center website will remain functional and accessible, along with the weather-related functions of the US National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service (NESDIS) which provides data from satellite imagery to sustain weather forecasting and supports the issuance of warnings from the NHC.
Details about the US government shutdown come at a time when Bermuda is facing the possibility of a direct impact from Hurricane Imelda. Currently there are no tropical cyclones threatening the Cayman Islands.
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