the attitude with arnie arnesen the Friday edition noon to 1pm EST Oct 17 streaming live at wnhnfm.org

1 view
Skip to first unread message

Arnie Arnesen

unread,
Oct 16, 2025, 7:22:00 PMOct 16
to AttitudeArnieArnesen
The Attitude with Arnie Arnesen
opening thoughts: weather balloons tsunami alaska
producers: Dave Scott and Stephanie Collins
Chloé LaCasse (the best of the attitude)
streaming live at wnhnfm.org noon&7pm EST on the dial-94.7FM Concord NH
opening thoughts:
Lack of weather data due to Trump’s budget cuts impacted forecast for deadly Alaska storm
The forecast for the powerful and deadly storm that battered small communities in western Alaska over the weekend was likely made worse by a lack of weather data triggered by the Trump administration’s cuts.
There is a gaping hole in weather balloon coverage in western Alaska — a critical shortage bedeviling US forecasts and the National Weather Service since layoffs hit the agency as part of the Department of Government Efficiency’s push to shrink the federal government back in February.
Weather balloons, which are typically launched twice a day, provide crucial information on wind speed and direction, air temperature, humidity and other measurements. Balloon data is fed directly into the sophisticated computer models used to predict the weather.
However, there were few, if any, balloons to take measurements of what the weather was doing as the remains of Typhoon Halong approached Alaska late last week.
Such data could have helped the models more accurately predict the storm’s path and intensity, as initial model projections had the forecasts suggesting the worst conditions would strike farther to the south and west than they did. Models like the NWS’ Global Forecast System (GFS) consistently showed a stronger storm to the northwest of where it eventually struck. The communities that ended up seeing the worst storm surge flooding were not in the original forecasts.
While NWS forecasters in Alaska issued many warnings for the area that ended up bearing the brunt of the storm, they did so without the aid of accurate model projections made days in advance.
The balloon gaps in this region are well-known to the NWS and might also affect forecasts in the Lower 48 states.“All of the systematic losses are in western Alaska,” according to Rick Thoman, a meteorologist with the University of Alaska at Fairbanks.
He described this storm as “the nightmare scenario” for forecasters, with a depleted NWS leading to fewer weather balloon launches in the runup to a major storm.
“The impacts at any given place are extremely sensitive to the exact track and strength of the storm,” Thoman said, noting that as recently as last Thursday, forecasters thought the brunt of the storm would hit the Bering Strait, only to see that shift north by Friday. He called it a “major model fail,” The storm killed at least one person in the village of Kwigillingok with a few people still missing after it brought feet of storm surge to small and vulnerable communities on Alaska’s west coast. Helicopters have been plucking people off rooftops for rescue from flooding and structural damage. Rescues have taken place in Kwigillingok as well as the village of Kipnuk, with more than 1,000 people displaced to shelters.“If you imagine the worst-case scenario, that’s what we are dealing with,” said US Coast Guard Capt. Christopher Culpepper.“Not having balloons didn’t help” the forecast, said a NOAA official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.....

part one: 
Taylor Goldenstein is a state bureau reporter covering the Attorney General and federal courts among other topics. She's previously written for the Austin-American Statesman, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Tampa Bay Times. She hails from the suburbs of Chicago and earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 2014, she was a visiting fellow at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.

How a Texas group is positioning itself as a Republican alternative to teachers unions https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/teachers-unions-gop-21065985.php


part two:
Ryan Cooper is the Prospect’s managing editor, and author of How Are You Going to Pay for That?: Smart Answers to the Dumbest Question in Politics. He was previously a national correspondent for The Week. 
Bill Curry  was a Connecticut state senator, comptroller and two time Democratic nominee for governor who served as Counselor to the President in the Clinton White House. He has written for Salon, the Daily Beast, the Huffington Post and the Hartford Courant and has provided commentary on National Public Radio, MSNBC and many other news outlets.  
topics:

Full-blown Fascism Has Arrived in America as the Pentagon Expels the Press https://www.enewspf.com/opinion/full-blown-fascism-is-here-full-blown-fascism-has-arrived-in-america/#gsc.tab=0

RFK Jr: We need to stop trusting the experts... Trusting the experts is not a feature of science or democracy, it's a feature of religion and totalitarianism.

The 2026 Election Is Being Decided at the Supreme Court A case heard Wednesday will go a long way to determining whether Republicans can gerrymander their way to a near-permanent House majority. https://prospect.org/politics/2025-10-16-2026-election-supreme-court-gerrymandering-maps/

GOP seeks to wrest back momentum from Democrats in shutdown fight https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5557722-polls-shift-blame-democrats/

How Blue States Can Fight the MAGA Backlash The unconstitutional targeting of constituencies Trump dislikes calls for coordinated acts of resistance. https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/how-blue-states-can-fight-the-maga-backlash/



Vance downplays group chat messages: ‘Kids do stupid things, especially young boys.’ The vice president called the texts "edgy, offensive jokes." https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/15/vance-group-chat-young-boys-stupid-things-00609645

Capitol Police called to investigate US flag with swastika in GOP congressional office


The 5 Democratic primary battles that'll test the party's future identity https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/14/5-democratic-primaries-party-future-00608355


--
KEEPING THE POT STIRRED SO SCUM DOESN'T RISE TO THE TOP -  Anonymous 

D. ARNIE ARNESEN
15 Rumford Street
Concord NH 03301
nha...@gmail.com
(C) 603-321-7654

Host of "The Attitude with Arnie Arnesen"
Award Winning Public Affairs Show (NHAB 2018)
airs noon to 1pm and 7pm EST M-F at 94.7FM (concord nh)
Home Station - wnhnfm.org
Part of the Pacifica Network
go to wnhnfm.org for streaming live 

Arnie on the Air
Boston, MA-WGBH Under the Radar/Sunday Nights
Keene, NH-WKBK Friday Morning with Dan Mitchell


Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages