Sharpiegate Aftermath: Trump Cabinet Official Threatened NOAA Firings After Hurricane Dorian Claims?

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross reportedly threatened to fire officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration because the weather service’s Birmingham office contradicted President Trump’s claim that Hurricane Dorian was headed for Alabama.

Trump last week tweeted Alabama was in the path of the hurricane days after the National Hurricane Center had plotted a different path for the storm.

The National Weather Service office in Birmingham corrected the president’s error.

Trump then doubled down on his error, showing an Aug. 29 NWS map that had been altered with a Sharpie to show Alabama in Dorian’s path.

The New York Times reported Ross phoned the acting administrator of NOAA, Neil Jacobs, and instructed him to “fix” the agency’s contradiction of the president, apparently leading to an unsigned statement disavowing the Birmingham tweet.

Craig N. McLean, acting chief NOAA scientist, said in an email obtained by the Washington Post he would investigate “potential violations” of the agency’s decision to back Trump’s statement rather than those of its own scientists, saying the action represents “a danger to public health and safety.”

“My understanding is that this intervention to contradict the forecaster was not based on science but on external factors, including reputation and appearance, or simply put, political,” McLean wrote to staffers Sunday night.

He said Friday’s press release “compromises the ability of NOAA to convey life-saving information” and “violated NOAA’s policies of scientific integrity.”

National Weather Service director Louis W. Uccellini told a weather industry conference in Huntsville, Ala., Monday the Birmingham office had acted with public safety in mind when it contradicted Trump’s claim. He received a standing ovation.

“They did what any office would do,” Uccellini told the crowd. “With an emphasis they deemed essential, they shut down what they thought were rumors. They quickly acted to reassure their partners, the media and the public — with strong language — that there was no threat.”

Jacobs is to appear before the group Tuesday.

The NWS forecast guidance had shown Sept. 1 only a 5% chance a small portion of Alabama would see tropical force winds but Alabama was not in the storm’s forecast track.

The American Meteorological Society said criticism of the Birmingham office’s tweet was unwarranted.

“Rather, they should have been commended for their quick action based on science in clearly communicating the lack of a threat to the citizens of Alabama,” the society said in a tweet.