Trump speaks to the media about Hurricane Dorian in the White House in Washington on 4 September 2019. The projected path of Hurricane Dorian has been extended into Alabama by amateurish drawing with a Sharpie, Trump’s favorite type of pen. When asked by reporters whether the map had been altered, Trump said he didn’t know how it had been amended. Photo: Tom Brenner / Bloomberg
Trump speaks to the media about Hurricane Dorian in the White House in Washington on 4 September 2019. The projected path of Hurricane Dorian has been extended into Alabama by amateurish drawing with a Sharpie, Trump’s favorite type of pen. When asked by reporters whether the map had been altered, Trump said he didn’t know how it had been amended. Photo: Tom Brenner / Bloomberg

By Andrew Freedman, Colby Itkowitz, and Jason Samenow
8 September 2019

(The Washington Post) – Nearly a week before the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration publicly backed President Trump over its own scientists, a top NOAA official warned its staff against contradicting the president.

In an agencywide directive sent Sept. 1 to National Weather Service personnel, hours after Trump asserted, with no evidence, that Alabama “would most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated,” staff was told to “only stick with official National Hurricane Center forecasts if questions arise from some national level social media posts which hit the news this afternoon.”

They were also told not to “provide any opinion,” according to a copy of the email obtained by The Washington Post.

A NOAA meteorologist who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution said the note, understood internally to be referring to Trump, came after the National Weather Service office in Birmingham contradicted Trump by tweeting Alabama would “NOT see any impacts from the hurricane.”

Perhaps the darkest day ever for NOAA leadership. Don’t know how they will ever look their workforce in the eye again. Moral cowardice.

David Titley, chief operating officer of NOAA under President Obama

The Birmingham office sent the tweet after receiving a flurry of phone calls from concerned residents following Trump’s message.

The agency sent a similar message warning scientists and meteorologists not to speak out on 4 September 2019, after Trump showed a hurricane map from 29 August 2019 modified with a hand-drawn, half-circle in black Sharpie around Alabama. […]

“This is the first time I’ve felt pressure from above to not say what truly is the forecast,” the meteorologist said. “It’s hard for me to wrap my head around. One of the things we train on is to dispel inaccurate rumors and ultimately that is what was occurring — ultimately what the Alabama office did is provide a forecast with their tweet, that is what they get paid to do.”

Late Friday afternoon, NOAA officials further angered scientists within and beyond the agency by releasing a statement, attributed to an unnamed agency spokesperson, supporting Trump’s claims on Alabama and chastising the agency’s Birmingham meteorologists for speaking in absolutes.

That statement set off a firestorm among scientists, who attacked NOAA officials for bending to Trump’s will. […]

NOAA’s Friday statement infuriated scientists, who worry the Trump administration is corroding faith in research and data.

“It makes me speechless that the leadership would put [Trump’s] feelings and ego ahead of putting out weather information accurately,” said Michael Halpern, a deputy director at the Union of Concerned Scientists. “If we’re politicizing the weather what is there left to politicize? We’re seeing this kind of clamp down of scientists across the government, and it’s been an escalating trend.”

In 2018, a survey of scientists at 16 federal agencies found a culture of fear and self-censorship in an administration that has sidelined scientific evidence, especially as it related to climate change, in favor of political expediency.

Keith Seitter, executive director of the American Meteorological Society, said in a statement that “the criticism of the Birmingham forecast office is unwarranted; rather they should have been commended for their quick action based on science in clearly communicating the lack of threat to the citizens of Alabama.”

One of the strongest reactions to the NOAA statement came from David Titley, an atmospheric scientist who served as the chief operating officer of NOAA under President Obama.

“Perhaps the darkest day ever for leadership. Don’t know how they will ever look their workforce in the eye again. Moral cowardice,” he tweeted.

Others who weighed in on social media were also scathing in their response to NOAA’s decision to publicly defend Trump.

“I have never been so embarrassed by NOAA. What they did is just disgusting,” Dan Sobien, president of the National Weather Service’s labor union, wrote on Twitter Friday. “Let me assure you the hard working employees of the NWS had nothing to do with the utterly disgusting and disingenuous tweet sent out by NOAA management tonight.” [more]

NOAA staff warned in Sept. 1 directive against contradicting Trump