NOAA Weather Service Director Dr. Louis W. Uccellini explains new weather forecasting techniques to Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, center, and Sen. Barbara Mikulski, far right. NOAA received funds from the Hurricane Sandy supplemental to invest in faster computers.
WASHINGTON – In light of the recent sweltering heat waves in the west and floods in the Northeast, threatening weather and climate change are getting a renewed focus – one the Obama administration is hoping to use in making a case for drastic climate policy reform.
In her first public appearance since being confirmed as Secretary of Commerce, Pritzker voiced support for President Barack Obama’s climate action plan and clean energy.
“Slowing the effects of climate change is crucial to ensuring a bright, healthy future for the next generation,” Pritzker said at a news conference at the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration in Maryland.
Pritzker addressed concerns that jobs would be lost if the president’s climate action proposal is implemented.
“As the president said, we need an all of the above approach… to cut carbon emissions,” Pritzker said. “Part of the solution is for both the public and private sector to continue to develop breakthroughs, [which] will have an added benefit of helping us innovate with the rest of the world.”
The news conference was also attended by Sen. Mikulski, D-Md., who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee.
NOAA and Mikulski announced an initiative that would pair the public and private sector in not only predicting weather but also protecting property and businesses.
Mikulski said that the European weather model uses superior supercomputers to predict weather patterns. Better computer models would have made a difference in predicting where Hurricane Sandy would hit on American shores.
“We’re in the Olympics of weather,” Mikulski said, noting that she pushed for the Appropriations Committee to award supplemental funds in the wake of Hurricane Sandy to NOAA – the nation’s weather agency. “America’s commerce depends on good weather prediction.”
Mikulski said that the initiative would help “save lives and livelihoods” – a mantra that was repeated to emphasize the economic and personal impact people faced when it comes to bad weather.
To compete with Europe, Mikulski announced funding that would upgrade the power of supercomputers five fold. This would allow for American forecasting to match European forecasting – and potentially avert the disastrous consequences of super storms.
“The frequency of weather extremes is increasing,” Mikulski said. “The foundation of our entire country’s enterprise [stands on this].”