Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead(WASHINGTON) — Late Friday, five days after Donald Trump said Hurricane Dorian threatened Alabama, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association issued a statement supporting the president’s claim and chastising a local branch of the National Weather Service.
NOAA said the NWS Birmingham office was wrong to speak “in absolute terms” on Sunday when it tweeted: “Alabama will NOT see any impacts from #Dorian.”
Alabama will NOT see any impacts from #Dorian. We repeat, no impacts from Hurricane #Dorian will be felt across Alabama. The system will remain too far east. #alwx
— NWS Birmingham (@NWSBirmingham) September 1, 2019
That tweet, at 11:11 a.m. EST, followed 20 minutes after Trump’s:
In addition to Florida – South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, will most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated. Looking like one of the largest hurricanes ever. Already category 5. BE CAREFUL! GOD BLESS EVERYONE!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 1, 2019
A NOAA spokesperson said on Friday: “From Wednesday, August 28, through Monday, September 2, the information provided by NOAA and the National Hurricane Center to President Trump and the wider public demonstrated that tropical-storm-force winds from Hurricane Dorian could impact Alabama. This is clearly demonstrated in Hurricane Advisories #15 through #41, which can be viewed at the following link. The Birmingham National Weather Service’s Sunday morning tweet spoke in absolute terms that were inconsistent with probabilities from the best forecast products available at the time.”
That statement is technically correct. According to the map to which NOAA links, there was a 5% to 10% probability that a tiny part of southeastern Alabama would experience winds of at least 39 mph. That also was true for the entire eastern seaboard.
Trump tweeted on Thursday, referring to various weather forecasts, that “certain models strongly suggested that Alabama & Georgia would be hit” after on Sunday he’d written a tweet including that “Alabama, will most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated.”
In the early days of the hurricane, when it was predicted that Dorian would go through Miami or West Palm Beach, even before it reached the Bahamas, certain models strongly suggested that Alabama & Georgia would be hit as it made its way through Florida & to the Gulf….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 5, 2019
Trump on Wednesday was photographed holding a National Hurricane Center map that included a drawn-on semicircle extending the hurricane’s “cone of uncertainty” well into Alabama.
A White House deputy spokesman later wrote on Twitter that it was “a black sharpie mark.”
Absolutely right @realDonaldTrump! Watching the media go ballistic over a black sharpie mark on a map would be hilarious if it weren’t so sad. The real news that matters here is a deadly hurricane continues up the coast and tens millions of Americans could be greatly impacted. https://t.co/SceSOeuyO5
— Hogan Gidley (@hogangidley45) September 5, 2019
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News following NOAA’s statement on Friday.
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