Hurricane Center director says he won’t resign

'Science is not there'
Proenza has publicly criticized the government for failing to provide enough funding, particularly to replace an aging weather satellite and increase research. He also said NOAA had spent money on an anniversary celebration while cutting research money.

James Franklin, the forecaster, said Proenza had exaggerated the risk if a key satellite called QuikScat failed. It is now past its expected life span, and Proenza has argued that tracking forecasts could be up to 16 percent less accurate without it.

“He has been very loudly saying if it failed, our forecasts for landfalling storms would be degraded, that warning areas would need to be expanded,” Franklin said. “None of that is the case, and he knows that we feel that way. The science is not there to back up the claims that he’s making.”

Avila and Franklin say they depend on QuikScat more for intensity information than to determine a storm’s path. Avila said the satellite was like a BMW with leather seats: nice but not essential. When asked if he thought Proenza misspoke intentionally, he said: “Don’t attribute to malice what you can attribute to stupidity.”

Franklin worried that Proenza’s statements would result in inferior technology hastily being substituted for QuikScat, possibly funded with money pulled from reconnaissance flights sent to investigate Atlantic storms.

'A frenzy of concern'
The International Association of Emergency Managers supports Proenza, but was “quite concerned that his employees have turned on him,” said Larry Gispert, the group’s first vice president. The association is a nonprofit organization of nearly 3,000 emergency management professionals from local, state and federal governments, as well as the military, private industry and volunteer organizations.

Gispert urged NOAA to resolve the situation quickly. “This stuff could have gone on either preseason or after the season,” Gispert said.

Proenza said whether he stays or goes, the hurricane center will still function well.

“Everybody has gone into a frenzy of concern and I can understand why. But it’s interesting to note that despite that frenzy of concern, that everybody is still working well together,” Proenza said.

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