HURRICAN FORECASTING

Funding as big a problem as policy

Re: “Hurricane forecasting is casualty in the war on climate science,” Sept. 8 Diane Carmen opinion column.

As Diane Carman accurately points out: “In 2012, scientists in the U.S. were unable to forecast Hurricane Sandy’s path with any degree of accuracy, while the European team predicted with confidence that it was going to turn toward New Jersey.” What Carman avoids discussing is why the European team was able to do that. And the reason is simple: It doesn’t fit her anti-president Trump narrative. There are two main reasons the European model was able to correctly predict the path of Hurricane Sandy: a superior supercomputer and information provided by NASA’S polar-orbiting satellites.

So why, in 2012, didn’t the U.S. supercomputer match the European’s? The answer is simple: funding.

Which brings us to the reason Carman is so reluctant to discuss the reasons behind the European model’s accuracy. She wants readers to believe funding for NOAA is only a problem when a war-on-climate-science Republican is in the White House. Shame on you, Carman. Don Lopez, Parker

Jose Romero, AFP This satellite image obtained from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows Hurricane Max. Max formed off the southwestern coast of Mexico on Thursday.