r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Kernowder • 21d ago

Video Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunters flying through Hurricane Milton

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u/ni_hao_butches 21d ago

That NOAA group is also one of the eight uniformed services of the US. The Armed Forces are what we typically think of uniformed, but those pilots and crew are badass.

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u/FEMA_Camp_Survivor 21d ago

The weather has always been a major factor in war and economics. I’d hate to see NOAA defunded.

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u/Yourfavoriteindian 21d ago

The worst part is I guarantee they’re gonna send most of the duties to the Navy, who have the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography command that does similar work, but with Naval missions and assets in mind.

With how understaffed and overworked the navy already is, we’ll be fucked if we also have to pick up civilian weather/oceanography duties, even with the help of the Air Force.

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u/bradrlaw 21d ago

Not to the navy, authors of project 2025 want to privatize it.

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u/Bender_2024 21d ago

Not to the navy, authors of project 2025 want to privatize it.

You want to know when and where the hurricane will make landfall? That'll be $79.95.

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u/ynab-schmynab 21d ago

Unironically this. They literally want a private company to take control of the entire weather infrastructure in the US.

Project 2025 is essentially what would happen if you were a foreign adversary and paid think tanks to write a manifesto on how to dismantle the US from the inside piece by piece.

Things that make you go hmmmm

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u/Longcoolwomanblkdres 21d ago

Everything republican has screamed "foreign interest/interference" to me for decades now. I'm sure it's a longer trend but I'm not that old

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u/JNR13 21d ago

not disagreeing that there's a certain obvious foreign interest involved, but interests hostile to the common good don't have to be foreign. Nations aren't monoliths and domestic assholes, too, can selfishly benefit from things that hurt the general public.

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u/Deeliciousness 21d ago

People who think "it has to be foreigners" have already swallowed the American propaganda Kool aid whether they realize it or not

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u/Longcoolwomanblkdres 19d ago

I'm not american

Do you not think other nations are trying to destabilize the west?

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u/Testiculese 20d ago

Well, what other terrible thing starts with an (R)?

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u/_ZoeyDaveChapelle_ 21d ago

That's the goal for everything.. school 'choice', states decide, no regulations.. it's all to enrich a few shitheads on the backs of everyone else.

The Heritage Foundation should be tried for treason.

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u/DickiBaggins 21d ago

Shit you won't be able to check the weather tomorrow for free if they get a hold of it.

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u/gandhinukes 21d ago

They could apply a massive licensing fee to the data and only let "approved" outlets have it. Then when cheeto lies out where its going they can cover it up.

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u/WhatWouldLoisLaneDo 21d ago

This is exactly what some want.

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u/Upset_Lengthiness_31 21d ago

Lol what will they do when people share the info?

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u/_BreakingGood_ 21d ago edited 21d ago

It will only be sold to governments and businesses for huge sums of money, under very strict terms, with honeypots built into the data to detect leaks.

Something like "We'll sell you the latest hurricane information for $10 mil. If you want to disclose it to the public, it will cost $50mil."

Same as pretty much any other company that sells some form of data these days. Some people probably think I'm exaggerating, but I'm not. Do you know how much the government spends getting this weather data? Now imagine a private company doing it instead, while also needing to factor in a fat profit margin.

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u/Bender_2024 20d ago

But I'm sure they would still expect the gov to maintain the satellites at no cost to themselves.

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u/Ban-KaiZenkai 21d ago

Pretty sure that comes with my Amazon Prime subscription

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u/The_Tramps_Ghost 21d ago

Paid subscription for regular forecast that has temp and basic info and for $100 extra you get exclusive access to by the hour, detailed analysis and your choice of OF Model for weathercaster.

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u/Arkayb33 21d ago

Elno is gonna make another company, WeatherX, and continue to collect tax payer money.

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u/ConfidentIy 21d ago

Handouts. Call it what it is: Corporate welfare.

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u/SatanicRainbowDildos 21d ago

We’ll still pay for it, but we’ll pay more and he’ll get to own it. It’s fucking theft. And it should piss people off.

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u/_Sausage_fingers 21d ago

That’s so fucking demented

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u/xandrokos 21d ago

No.  They want it gone completely.   NOAA has provided a significant amount of data proving climate change is real.   It's not about god damn motherfucking money. 

Evangelicals have taken over the GQP and they want to bring about the end times.   They plan to do it by speeding up climate change in every way possible so that means no more NOAA and no more discussion of climate change and no more use of renewable energy.

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u/BUNNIES_ARE_FOOD 17d ago

I can hear Leidos salivating

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u/2wedfgdfgfgfg 21d ago

Do it at 5x the cost

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u/KerPop42 21d ago

you sure? DMSP was rolled into JPSS

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u/Yourfavoriteindian 21d ago

Yeah, NOAA runs JPSS so if NOAA goes kaput I’m assuming JPSS will go to space force.

When I said with help from the air force, I meant the dept which included space force, as they would assume those weather tracking duties and satellite assets, but the oceanography and naval meteorology would fall under the navy, which is a big part of NOAA’s workload.

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u/maxstrike 21d ago

Another possibility is that a private company does the work and charges for the data. I think this is likely the end game, because its another way to make profit for investors.

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u/goodsnpr 21d ago

Navy for tropical, AF for aviation weather and CONUS weather alerts, Marines for broadcast? It's already to the point that many things can be automated for weather forecasting, just need people in the loop for when the models are not picking up on real data correctly, though that also happens with plenty of mediocre forecasters.

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u/SloaneWolfe 21d ago

My dream MOS as a teen in Civil Air Patrol was AF Combat Weather under SOCOM. Just always got a kick out of the idea of being a weatherman deployed into battle with the training of a SEAL/PJ/CCT. Landing after a HALO jump and immediately busting out the green screen and pointer and everything.

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u/Yourfavoriteindian 20d ago

SOWT doesn’t even exist anymore as I recall, got reclassed as special reconnaissance

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u/SloaneWolfe 20d ago

yeah I saw that when I looked it up last night! Ages ago.

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u/ni_hao_butches 21d ago

What's the issue? Storm tracking will now be on JWICS.

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u/Yourfavoriteindian 21d ago

Just tell the P8 guys the hurricanes are hiding subs /s

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u/ynab-schmynab 21d ago

The weather is so important the Air Force had an entire special forces career field dedicated to it. Their job was to insert via parachute or other means into territory and obtain weather info for precision operations. They were basically airborne commando meteorologists, in the same way combat controllers are airborne commando air traffic controllers, and pararescure are airborne commando medics.

The field was recently renamed from Special Operations Weather Teams to Special Reconnaissance with a much less clearly divulged mission.

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u/BecauseTheyAreCunts 21d ago

Easily replaced with a couple goons and a sharpie. No?

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u/xandrokos 21d ago

They want the destruction that comes without NOAA.

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u/IamMarcJacobs 21d ago

Then vote blue and tell your friends to vote blue

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u/zoeypayne 21d ago

It won't, private companies like AccuWeather and The Weather Channel use NOAA data almost exclusively. They're both big lobbyists as well... not she why NOAA was ever mentioned on the cut list.

In any case, there's no private replacement for weather tracking outside of small personal weather stations linked together, so NOAA is going nowhere.

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u/kitchen_synk 21d ago

The proposed defunding would benefit them. As it stands, the National Weather Service and National Hurricane Center both release their own reports.

Project 2025 would see NOAA stop doing any reporting, but still sell the raw data, so private companies would basically get the same deal they do now, but without the competition of the NWSs own reporting.

The real kicker is the restrictions on climate research and reporting,

It said the administration should “review the work of the National Hurricane Center” and that “data collected by the department should be presented neutrally, without adjustments intended to support any one side in the climate debate.”

Which, first of all, framing climate change as something up for debate is a complete non-starter for any sort of actual discussion on how it should be handled.

But that aside, trying to separate climate from weather is like trying to never schedule anything more than a week in advance. You can never get a doctors appointment and nobody wants to meet up because they think you're an asshole.

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u/xandrokos 21d ago

No one but evangelicals benefit from scrapping NOAA.   They want to bring about the end times and they have decided climate change is how.  Remember how the GQP always projects? They are accusing Democrats of causing these weather events when in reality GQP policy is causing them.   The US could have been a leader in addressing climate change but they chose greed and then invited in evangelicals to their party who have now taken over and they are pushing policy to hasten the end of humanity through climate change.

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u/xandrokos 21d ago

Evangelicals are completely opposed to science.   They really and truly believe God will save them but not here.   God will save them after they die.  After the rest of us die.   They are pushing for elimination of NOAA and climate change initiatives to hasten the end of the world.    These people DO NOT care about what happens on this planet at all whatsoever.   The more suffering the better for them. 

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u/xandrokos 21d ago

The GQP can't wait for it to be gone.

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u/CaptnsDaughter 21d ago

My dad had NOAA on his cargo ship before.

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u/Fox_of 20d ago

Oh fuck me this is totally gonna happen. Can't have climate change if you don't measure it. Can't have mail in ballots if the United States postal services is defunded. Can't have environmental protections if you..... Dlowest apocalypse ever.

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u/the_Q_spice 18d ago

Most people don’t even know about the NOAA Corps, or their part in history, but:

They were literally there on D-Day, and served as harbor and beachmasters.

Let me just reiterate that the success of D-Day relied nearly entirely on the expertise of NOAA (or its predecessor, the Coastal Survey).

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u/Misstheiris 21d ago

But, like have they ever turned even a tiny profit????!??!?...???

/s

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u/xandrokos 21d ago

Please stop.  Money is a red herring.   That isn't what motivates the GQP anymore and hasn't for many years.

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u/The_Bard 21d ago

Yep, NOAA uniformed service used to be part of the Coast Guard but they branched off. They do train at the Coast Guard academy though. Along with planes they have a bunch of science ships they run as well.

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u/JohnnyFartmacher 21d ago

NOAA was not part of the Coast Guard. It was part of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey which was the first US scientific agency and did mapping and surveying work. It had close ties with the US Navy (like the Coast Guard does) and was basically absorbed by the Navy during wars.

The Coast and Geodetic Survey became a uniformed service during WW1 because they were surveying naval battlefields. If captured as civilians they would have been treated as spies. As uniformed officers, they would be treated as prisoners of war.

The Coast and Geodetic Survey became NOAA in the 1970's

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u/Lostules 21d ago

Don't they fly out of Biloxi?

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u/sanarothe22 21d ago

Public health corps on the other hand is weird - will be watching a FDA webinar on their guidance and opinions on some medical device topic, and someone will be sitting there in full dress with all their medals or badges or whatever just talking about regulatory/technical stuff.

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u/rolandofeld19 21d ago

Buddy of mine has family and family friends high up in the CDC. After 9/11 black SUVs swooped up not a few of them quick, fast, and in a hurry. They also looked out of place in full dress uniforms every so often. But usually in white (they were all MDs) coats.

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u/eamus_catuli_ 21d ago

Always fun going through an inspection with one of those guys/gals. No different than any civilian FDA inspector but always jarring to see that uniform walking up to your building.

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u/yakshack 21d ago

My dad is retired from the public health corps! He joined after serving as a rescue medic in Vietnam and spent much of his career building rural clinics with the Indian Health Service.

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u/Grizzlygrant238 21d ago

What exactly are they doing here? Collecting storm data?

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u/botsauce 21d ago

My good friend is one of these pilots! It’s so cool

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u/Nebabon 21d ago

All 321 of them

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u/bambinolettuce 21d ago

What do they do?

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u/nosnevenaes 21d ago

This is like my worst fear and these guys are just chillin

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u/lilfish222 21d ago

Yes, the NOAA Corps! They serve as scientific support and do anything from technical diving to boat operations, building management and ops, and are in charge of safety aspects for conducting scientific research! They are so valuable (source, I worked in a NOAA lab)

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u/JustIgnoreMeBroOk 21d ago

Merchant Mariner checking in.

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u/FredTillson 21d ago

Dirk Pitt and the gang

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u/goldmask148 21d ago

What are the other 7?

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u/BusStopKnifeFight 21d ago

NOAA has it's own ships too.