NOAA chief backs Trump on Alabama claims, notes difficulty of forecasting Dorian

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) acting Administrator Neil Jacobs on Tuesday continued to back President Trump’s claim that Alabama had been in the storms path after NOAA, in an unsigned statement, rebuked a tweet from the National Weather Service that contradicted Trump. 

“At one point, Alabama was in the mix, as was the rest of the Southeast,” Jacobs said speaking at the National Weather Association’s meeting in Huntsville, Ala. “Up until Advisory 29, the risk the Gulf states exceeded that of North Carolina, but as everyone in this room knows, forecast models change.” 

Jacobs also defended the agency’s Friday statement supporting Trump’s position in his speech. {mosads}

“The purpose of the NOAA statement was to clarify the potential impacts of Dorian. What it did not say however is that we understand and fully support the good intent of the Birmingham weather forecast office, which was to calm fears,” he said. 

“The Birmingham National Weather Service’s Sunday morning tweet spoke in absolute terms that were inconsistent with probabilities from the best forecast products available at the time,” the Friday statement said of the days-old weather service tweet. 

Meteorologists and former officials criticized the statement, which was reportedly being probed by the agency’s inspector general. 

The New York Times reported that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross threatened to fire top NOAA officials after the weather service’s tweet, which the Commerce Department later denied. 

“No one’s job is under threat, not mine, not yours,” Jacobs said in his Tuesday speech.