As a meteorologist, I have many friends who work as forecasters or in other jobs for the National Weather Service or its home agency, NOAA. It’s been a busy week for these folks, and they do it carefully and at all hours of the day and night to keep us safe. This in spite of the fact that they are not getting paid because of the government shutdown. I know that Congress has voted to pay them for all the time they worked (or couldn’t work, if they were furloughed) once the shutdown ends, but the bills don’t stop just because the paychecks do, so many of them are feeling the pinch. But that financial stress does not keep them from doing their job well.Thank you!

Private forecasting firms like the Weather Channel, Accuweather, Intellicast, and others rely on the observations and products that come straight from the NWS to make their own forecasts, so don’t think that we can get along without them. Here is a great article that explains more about the NWS from Outside magazine at https://www.outsideonline.com/2384351/national-weather-service-our-best-federal-agency.