Read more at The Guardian.

• Budget Cuts Threaten Lives: Cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) budget could endanger lives, especially as the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season begins amidst record-breaking heat.
• Jeopardized Forecasting Improvements: Retired chief of the National Hurricane Center’s forecast specialists, James Franklin, expressed concerns that the budget cuts would undermine advancements in hurricane track and intensity forecasting, which have significantly reduced error margins over the past decade.
• Impact on Data Collection: Reduced or discontinued weather balloon launches by the National Weather Service, due to federal bureaucracy shrinking, could degrade hurricane forecasts, even for areas far from where the balloons are launched.
• Defense of Cuts and Criticism: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick defended the cuts, stating NOAA is “transforming how we track storms and forecast weather with cutting-edge technology.” However, critics argue these cuts fail to acknowledge climate’s role in daily weather and mischaracterize NOAA’s research support.
• Climate.gov Shutdown and Staff Layoffs: A team responsible for Climate.gov, a website for science education, was terminated, and the site was redirected, raising concerns about public access to trusted climate information.
• Warnings from Former NWS Directors: Five former National Weather Service directors issued an open letter, stating their “worst nightmare” is that understaffing could lead to needless loss of life and are deeply concerned about NOAA as a whole.
• 2025 Hurricane Season Outlook: Despite the cuts, NOAA predicts a 60% chance of an above-normal hurricane season in 2025, forecasting 13-19 named storms, 6-10 hurricanes, and 3-5 major hurricanes.

For more details, you can refer to the Yahoo News article: Will NOAA cuts hurt hurricane forecasting in 2025? What Florida residents should know.