2025 and Weather Forecasting

Hurricane Helene - First Reports in Florida

For those who may not know, the Republican think tank Heritage Foundation has created a playbook for Presidential implementation called Project 2025. It is designed to give Donald Trump a blueprint for action at the very beginning of his second term. The semi-fascists would like to hit the ground running with a plan that includes the hopes and dreams of many conservatives. The document refers to Trump 311 times. It was written with input from 31 of Trump's former staff and advisers. So, it is an actual blueprint plan with ideas on actions to take without both with and without Congressional approval

It is crazy in many areas, but weather forecasting is one area where Project 2025 has"a plan." An idiotic plan, but a plan nonetheless. It helps with one of their favorite bug-a-boos, climate change. This is, of course, a step up from the "concept of the plan", but in this case, the concept stage is where it should have been killed.

First, let's look at what is happening in the South right now. Hurricane Helene is spreading destruction from Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas to the upper Ohio River Valley. It strengthened much faster than previous storms because of the warming of the sea in the Gulf of Mexico. It changed from a Tropical Storm to a "once in a generation" category 4 Hurricane in less than 3 days. 

Luckily, the United States has an excellent weather projection system through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The United States is constantly improving this system.

You probably can see where this is going.

Yes, Project 2025 plans to dismantle the NOAA. This is seen by many of the writers of Project 2025 because the writers believe in privatization. They assume Trump in 2025 can break NOAA up and leave weather forecasting to the private sector. Sure, this means no more free weather reports on your phone OR on local and national TV. No public projections of the pathes of Hurricanes, storms, low and high-pressure impacts, threatening heat, and more - but it is assumed private companies can provide all this - at a cost.

Why do they plan to do this? First and foremost they don't believe in Climate Change. NOAA includes climate change in their reports. For example, NOAA explained that the rise in temperature of the ocean is exasperating storms. The fact that NOAA suggested one of the causes for this increase is man-made climate change is a reason for them to close this department. Of course, the fact that they will profit from private projections is just a plus for them.

And they resent being called out on this.

According to Project 2025, we don't need this kind of information from the government.

I don't think they fully understand the impact of runaway capitalism on a public good. Or maybe they just don't care about the regular American people.

For a full report on Project 2025 - select here.

For an overview of the practical effects on America - see Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist or Bleak House.