In speech to forecasters, NOAA chief tries to tamp down Sharpie controversy

Enlarge / President Donald Trump has continued to insist Alabama was threatened by Hurricane Dorian. (credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

A soft-spoken, contrite, and at times emotional Neil Jacobs, acting head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, addressed the annual meeting of the National Weather Association on Tuesday morning in Huntsville, Alabama. Intertwining anecdotes on his own career path with comments about Hurricane Dorian, Jacobs expressed his support for the National Weather Service in the wake of the storm. "Weather should not be a partisan issue," Jacobs emphasized toward the end of his speech.

The weather community has been buffeted by a storm of its own following President Donald Trump's insistence that his comments about Dorian threatening Alabama were valid (although they were not, and in fact were a distraction to forecasters), his doctoring of a forecast map, the issuance of a questionable, unsigned statement from NOAA on Friday, and reports that Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross threatened to fire top employees at NOAA after the agency’s Birmingham office contradicted President Trump’s claim.

"(Friday's) statement did not say that we understand and fully support the good intent of the Birmingham office to calm fears and support public safety," Jacobs said, adding he was proud of the work of all National Weather Service forecast offices. He also acted to reassure Weather Service employees that their jobs, and how they perform them, are not in jeopardy. "There is no pressure to change the way you communicate forecast risk into the future," Jacobs noted.