Before modern forecasting, hurricanes were mass casualty events. The 1900 Galveston Hurricane killed over 8,000 people, wiping out an entire city with a 15-foot storm surge. Less than a century ago, Hurricane Okeechobee killed over 2,500 Floridians in a tragedy that today would be largely preventable.

We’ve come a long way since the days when hurricanes struck without warning. I know, because I helped develop the systems that save countless lives and give communities time to prepare.

That was my job until February, when I was terminated by President Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency alongside hundreds of other scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Since then, I have continued my work in hurricane forecasting through Cooperative Institute research; however, the cuts left deep holes across NOAA’s forecasting teams that’ve not been filled. This purge isn’t “cutting waste” — it is dismantling America’s hurricane monitoring systems.

At the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, I worked on the next-generation Hurricane Analysis and Forecast System. This system enabled emergency managers to issue timely evacuation orders during life-threatening hurricanes like Helene and Milton, helping prevent thousands of potential fatalities.

Yet even with cutting-edge forecasting, Helene........

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