Detroit — When the National Guard has to be called out for an ice storm, as was the case in Northern Michigan at the end of March, the situation is dire.
At the time, meteorologists couldn’t forecast just how much of the region would be encased in ice.
“While it [the forecast] showed devastating ice, it ended up still being worse than expected,” said Ahmad Bajjey, CBS News Detroit’s chief meteorologist.
Up to 1.5 inches of ice accumulated across large portions of Northern Michigan, knocking down power lines, blocking roads, and damaging homes and businesses. Last month, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer requested federal disaster aid.
Bajjey said he was working without National Weather Service data he usually counts on.
“We couldn’t get true real-world data as often as needed,” Bajjey said.
At least 13 of nearly 100 balloon sites were cut or reduced when the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, took aim at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration earlier this year.
Two of them, one in Michigan and another in Wisconsin, left gaps in data.
Those gaps could have helped during the March ice storm, as well as last week, when dangerous thunderstorms and tornadoes hit Wisconsin, meteorologists say.
There have also been cuts in places like the Rocky Mountains in the western U.S. and “Tornado Alley” in the central U.S., where storms get started and move east. One balloon site was also eliminated in the Florida Panhandle just days before the start of the Atlantic hurricane season.
For the past 100 years of U.S. weather forecasting, there’s no better substitute to weather balloons, meteorologists say.
Associate professor of meteorology Dr. John Allen teaches future meteorologists at Central Michigan University. He also studies how artificial intelligence can improve forecasts.
But he says the data received from weather balloons is irreplaceable. He showed CBS News a device used to communicate with a weather balloon.
“So what this device is doing is reporting back every couple of seconds as we look through the whole column of the atmosphere,” Allen said.
His research in AI cannot make up for a lack of air pressure and moisture data collected by balloons.
“If we have clouds, satellites really don’t tell us much about what’s actually happening,” he said, explaining why weather balloons are essential and their data cannot be duplicated by satellites or radar.
In a statement to CBS on News Friday, a NOAA spokesperson defended NWS forecasting.
“The National Weather Service is committed to delivering accurate, timely, and life-saving forecasts despite speculation,” the spokesperson said. “Through strategic transformation, staff reallocation, and updated service standards, NWS is ensuring resilience and continuity of mission-critical functions. Reports suggesting otherwise are false and disrespectful to the many weather scientists who work tirelessly to produce the best weather data in the world.”
In the meantime, some meteorologists like Bajjey say they have no choice but to make do with new limitations.
“This is about public safety,” Bajjey said. “It’s every single forecast, every warning, every alert, and every update. And this is where it comes from.”
In an open letter published earlier this month, five living former NWS leaders issued a warning about the impact of staffing and program cuts to the NOAA.
“Our worst nightmare is that weather forecast offices will be so understaffed that there will be needless loss of life,” the letter said. “We know that’s a nightmare shared by those on the forecasting front lines – and by the people who depend on their efforts.”
Dave Malkoff is a national correspondent with the CBS Innovation Lab, where his work appears across all CBS News and Station platforms.
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