Hurricane Helene barreled across the Southeast leaving a multibillion dollar mess in its wake. The massive Category 4 storm engulfed the state of Florida and shattered rain and storm surge records for the region but, worse yet, it took lives and shattered communities. Rebuilding the affected communities will take months or years, and some places might never recover.
Hurricanes like Helene are no longer rare. Helene was the fifth major hurricane to hit Florida in the past 6 years. But neither are other forms of extreme weather. Phoenix had 113 days of temperatures over 100 degrees last summer. And the powerful one-two punch of droughts followed by soaking rains exacerbates flooding and land erosion, which has hit places like California and even Michigan hard.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Extreme weather is the reality of climate change in America — not in the future but today. In fact, if you did not receive an extreme weather alert in the United States this summer — you are alone! Ninety-nine percent of Americans have.
In the past, a change of parties in the White House has not affected the way Americans get their daily weather forecasts. Meteorologists who work for the National Weather Service have delivered free forecasts to the public for more than a century. It’s a public service so ubiquitous and routine that it’s hard to imagine a world without them. Imagine being crushed by a storm like Helene with absolutely no advance warning. If you think that’s impossible, think again.
The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, marketed as a plan for a second Trump administration and written by Trump advisers and former Trump administration workers, would dismantle the National Weather Service. It would privatize both daily forecasts and, even worse, the warnings that save lives of people in harm’s way and help people like pregnant women, children and people with health issues make it through these extremes. The people who wrote Project 2025 call these extreme weather alerts “climate alarmism.” But their plans to “fix” it are as dangerous as the disasters themselves.
Federal weather forecasts and the National Weather Service provide the backbone for the entire weather infrastructure of our country. It is the basis for every local newspaper, TV and private weather service forecast app. And once it’s gone, there will be no going back. Worse yet, not only has Trump ridiculed victims of extreme weather, he’s exploited these disasters to punish Americans he sees as not sufficiently loyal to him.
The contrast between the two candidates could not be more stark. Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz know that dangerous and costly extreme weather events are disrupting American lives and businesses. They’ve increased America’s resilience by investing in better weather information, funding for disaster response and support for affected communities. They believe that keeping Americans safe from severe weather is their duty, not a political opportunity to exploit.
Monica Medina, an Atlanta native and graduate of Briarcliff High School, was assistant secretary of State for oceans, international environment and scientific affairs from 2021 to 2023. She is also a former principal deputy undersecretary of Commerce for oceans and atmosphere, deputy associate attorney general, and general counsel of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
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