One of Alaska’s most prolific climate communicators could lose his job if the Trump administration’s proposed cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration go through.
The Trump administration laid out a plan to slash NOAA’s budget in a memo leaked this month. The draft cuts would eliminate several research institutes the agency funds in Alaska, including the Fairbanks-based Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy, or ACCAP.
That’s where Rick Thoman works. He’s a climate specialist who is known as the state’s go-to source for weather information. He hosts weekly radio spots for communities across the state and writes a blog covering timely topics like extreme weather, seasonal outlooks and ice conditions.
But Thoman’s salary is funded entirely by NOAA, and three-quarters of that is through the base funding that ACCAP receives from the Oceanic and Atmospheric Research office that would be terminated if the cuts become a reality.
He said cutting his interpretive services would leave Alaskans in the dark.
“The weather doesn’t care whether we’re forecasting it or interpreting it or anything,” he said. “It’s going to happen. But we will be in a much, I think, reduced position to prepare for it and respond to it.”
John Davies is a retired seismologist and former state legislator in Fairbanks. He said he relies on Thoman’s reports as an avid gardener.
“Right now, we’re making a decision about when we should put our plants out in the greenhouse, and we’re trying to anticipate when we’re going to put plants in the ground.”
Davies also built his own home, and said that he used the climate information Thoman compiles to figure out how much insulation and fuel he’d need to stay warm. He said that the long-range climate data Thoman makes accessible to the public is invaluable.
Staff at NOAA’s Juneau offices and the White House declined to comment. Final funding decisions will be made when Congress votes on a budget in the coming months.
