[HN Gopher] NOAA's public weather data powers the local forecast...
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       NOAA's public weather data powers the local forecasts on your phone
       and TV
        
       Author : rntn
       Score  : 33 points
       Date   : 2025-02-11 21:31 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (theconversation.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (theconversation.com)
        
       | blueanon wrote:
       | Generally pro-dodge but NOAA is worth saving. They do some great
       | data collection. They have a cool infrastructure globally:
       | https://gml.noaa.gov/
        
         | hirsin wrote:
         | Is this something like inverse gell-man amnesia? You're aware
         | of the value noaa provides so you're skeptical about removing
         | it, but when we turn the page to talk about another agency
         | removal makes sense again?
         | 
         | Not attempting to dunk, I should say, but wondering how this
         | gets modeled and if there's actually a discrepancy there
        
           | mmooss wrote:
           | (EDIT: My mistake; I missed what hirsin was referring to.)
        
             | hirsin wrote:
             | "generally pro doge" would imply they support what doge is
             | doing, namely shutting things down
        
               | mmooss wrote:
               | I somehow overlooked that. I'll fix my comment, sorry.
        
       | jmclnx wrote:
       | Which is why NOAA needs to be left alone. But Trump and maybe the
       | GOP wants to privatize NOAA, which would be a disaster for the
       | US.
        
         | lotsofpulp wrote:
         | Already tried once 7 years ago:
         | 
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Lee_Myers
        
           | WarOnPrivacy wrote:
           | We don't seem to have any lesson-learning folks in play.
        
       | lazycog512 wrote:
       | Appeal to emotion.
       | 
       | NOAA does do some good stuff but a lot of it is infrastructure
       | that has existed since before I was born with some wires stuck
       | into it to send it over a network.
       | 
       | It's Google and other private companies that took their weather
       | data and properly made an AI around it.
       | 
       | As with all of these agencies, I think it's important to caution
       | against complete slash and burn, but I am also curious to see the
       | receipts. Post the data and let me decide for myself.
       | 
       | Falling back to appeals of emotion in essays just makes the non-
       | true believers stay suspicious.
        
         | mmooss wrote:
         | They present a lot of factual information. Why do you call it
         | appeal to emotion?
         | 
         | Also, on what do you base your claims NOAA's activities? The
         | article is by "Atmospheric scientists Christine Wiedinmyer and
         | Kari Bowen, who is a former National Weather Service
         | forecaster".
         | 
         | > Post the data and let me decide for myself.
         | 
         | For everything NOAA does and every agency? Who would have the
         | expertise to even begin to evaluate it, much less the time.
        
           | hirsin wrote:
           | It's funny. We get up in arms because our boss's boss's boss
           | wants to decide if the work we're doing this sprint is
           | valuable - there's no way they can begin to understand what
           | it is they pay me to do here! They've got dozens or hundreds
           | of reports, no way they can decide if fixing this CSS bug is
           | the best use of my time.
           | 
           | And then people think they can decide if the radar station
           | detecting low altitude systems near Palau is a good
           | investment or not.
        
             | mmooss wrote:
             | 'Do your own research!'
             | 
             | A bad boss limits everyone's abilities to what the boss
             | understands and can do. This governing approach limits
             | world-class scientists to what the public understands -
             | which is essentially the tactical argument made by the GOP:
             | _It looks useless to you and me and that is our source of
             | truth! Are you condescending elites calling us dumb?_
             | 
             | The Dems are complicit because in about 25 years, they
             | haven't bothered to come up with a simple, effective
             | counterargument.
             | 
             | I don't know anything about weather data. I couldn't
             | imagine overseeing these scientists or their technology.
        
       | mmooss wrote:
       | _Cui bono?_
       | 
       | One benefit to some is the continued assault on sources of truth:
       | Academics, everyone even arguably left-wing, news media, science,
       | now we lack a source of truth on weather. More generally, the
       | idea of an apoltical, non-profit source of truth is actively
       | denied and any example is destroyed. The CIA and FBI are other
       | examples.
       | 
       | Without a source of truth, how can any public agreement or action
       | form? All information becomes social media. Notice who controls
       | that too: Meta, X, and also Bytedance will be beholden to the
       | same people destroying all else.
        
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       (page generated 2025-02-11 23:00 UTC)