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Florida lawmakers holding a hurricane resilience hearing today to prepare for the upcoming season.
The head of the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Ken Graham, telling a 30-member Florida congressional delegation today that DOGE cuts to NOAA will make it difficult for him to replace forecasters who are retiring.
He says he has to shuffle things around to get around the hiring freeze, but right now he says, "Florida looks ok."
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration plans to lay off 10% of its current workforce or about 1000 employees per the Trump/Musk DOGE cuts.
Graham also says the forecast cone is being revised to take into account forecast track errors from the past five years.
He says the size of the forecast error cone for 2025 will be about 3-5% smaller for systems in the Atlantic.
Graham says despite the enhanced accuracy of the forecast cone, one-third of hurricanes veer outside the projected path which complicates preparations and evacuations.