West LA Times

As reductions to the budgets of NOAA, NASA, and FEMA continue, concerns grow over the potential impacts on the United States' capacity to predict weather-driven disasters and understand climate changes. Daniel Swain, a climate scientist affiliated with UCLA and UC ANR, plans to address these concerns during a live discussion. Swain refers to the budget cuts as threats that may "decimate weather & climate science & prediction in the U.S." and warns of a "large-scale dismantling of American science."

The discussion, titled "YouTube Office Hours with Daniel Swain," will be held on April 14 at 4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET. Participants can engage by submitting questions in the chat or view the recorded session later.

White House budget documents reveal plans to significantly reduce funding for NOAA’s climate research, alongside steep reductions in NASA’s budget. Swain has highlighted these financial cuts and their effects in various news reports and on his social media accounts.

Swain described the situation as involving “even deeper and more startling cuts to NOAA, NASA, FEMA, and other federal entities responsible for predicting, responding to, or studying weather, climate, wildfires, and disasters in the United States." He emphasized the increasing concern these decisions are causing and aims to focus on "potential short and long-term consequences" in his upcoming session.