Arkansas National Weather Service Office May Close Amid Budget Cuts

[LiberalArkie]

<http://www.kuar.org/kuarnews/14987-national-weather-service-offices-may-close-amid-budget-cuts.html>


As we enter our main severe weather season, National Weather Service offices around the nation may have to close, worrying forecasters about public safety.
Law makers in Washington are looking to cut some federally funded programs, and some are looking at the National Weather Service. One proposal to cut spending is to shut down several offices of the weather service for about a month. National Weather Service employee’s organization spokesman Dan Koch says not only would offices in surrounding states have to cover an additional area, there would be nobody to repair equipment, such as a radar, in Little Rock.

“If this happened during the middle of a tornado outbreak someone in Memphis would have to get in the car, drive three hours over here to Little Rock, and start making repairs. In the meantime we wouldn’t have any Doppler radar coverage over the central part of the state. So we feel that this whole proposal, this rolling blackout, would quite possibly put lives at stake, especially during severe weather periods.