Sept. 10, 2019 – We are concerned about what increasingly appears to be political pressure from within the U.S. federal government to change a weather forecast from the National Weather Service related to Hurricane Dorian, which directly impacts the public.
Meteorologists at the NWS work tirelessly to provide data-based information to the public in support of the NOAA mission, which reads in part: ‘To understand and predict changes in climate, weather, oceans, and coasts, to share that knowledge and information with others.’
The NWS Birmingham office was simply doing its job in communicating a sound weather forecast based on the best available scientific data forecasted at that time. They should be celebrated for communicating accurate information so important to the public, not asked to change a weather forecast in reaction to any political pressure. The misuse of science is a great disservice to the American people.
– Alan I. Leshner, interim chief executive officer, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal Science, as well as Science Translational Medicine; Science Signaling; a digital, open-access journal, Science Advances; Science Immunology; and Science Robotics. AAAS was founded in 1848 and includes nearly 250 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals. Science has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world. The nonprofit AAAS is open to all and fulfills its mission to “advance science and serve society” through initiatives in science policy, international programs, science education, public engagement, and more. For additional information about AAAS, see www.aaas.org.