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The US plays a key role in predicting global weather extremes. The United Nations stressed on Friday.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the leading US agency responsible for weather forecasting, climate analysis and marine conservation, has been a target since President Donald Trump returned to power in January, and hundreds of scientists and experts have already let go.
The Trump administration is also reportedly considering termination of leases for real estate, which could boost the US’s ability to provide accurate weather forecasts.
On Friday, the United Nations World Weather Organization (WMO) highlighted how NOAA and the US were introduced to globally monitor weather and climate decades ago.
“WMO values the US leadership in weather, climate, hydrology, oceanography and atmospheric science,” WMO spokesperson Claire Nullis told reporters in Geneva.
“It provides essential weather, climate and water data and expertise that are crucial to our interconnected world’s national and global well-being.”
On average, the US provides up to a quarter of weather satellite information used in operation around the world.
It also provides 3% of globally shared land surface weather observations and 12% of what is called Upper Air Radiosond Profile. These are the basic ground-based observations needed to forecast global weather.
Combined with data provided by other countries, this is “the basis for accurate global weather forecasting, which is the basis for protecting people and livelihoods everywhere,” Nullis said.
She also highlighted the important work done by the National Hurricane Center in Miami. It provides predictive data that “saved thousands of lives.”
Nuris pointed to the impact of Hurricane Beryl, a Category 5 storm that tore the Caribbean before colliding with Texas and Louisiana in the southern United States last year.
“The economic losses were huge, but the loss of life after that was very minimal,” she said.
While the US’s contribution to global forecasting is immeasurable, Nullis said it also relies on international cooperation, which she describes as “win-win.”
“The interests of the United States. The interests of the world,” she said.
“There is no way for a single country to protect people without global efforts to manage local to local data,” she argued.
“Weather, climate and water don’t respect geopolitical boundaries and don’t respect election cycles.”
©2025 AFP
Quote: US “important” for global weather extreme forecast
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