Funding cuts threaten accuracy of weather prediction

Here’s something you probably haven’t thought about when considering government budget cuts: weather.

Slashed funding could leave the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration without some of its weather satellites for 18 months come 2016. Without additional funding, the time could be longer.

So what does that mean? As Health & Science reporter Carolyn Beeler tells us, the satellites NOAA will do without are the ones that help predict severe storms in advance — like those several feet of snow our area saw this winter.

Losing the satellites would mean storm predictions could be off as much as 50 percent. Just went you thought your local weatherman couldn’t be more wrong.