Trump Rehires Neil Jacobs to Lead NOAA
On February 3, President Donald Trump nominated atmospheric scientist Neil Jacobs as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) administrator. However, this nomination is highly controversial due to Jacobs’ involvement in the infamous “Sharpie Gate” incident during Trump’s first term.
In 2019, President Trump falsely claimed that Hurricane Dorian would impact Alabama. When the National Weather Service’s Alabama office corrected the misinformation on social media, the Trump administration pressured NOAA officials to contradict their meteorologists of face termination publicly. As acting head of NOAA then, Dr. Jacobs issued a statement criticizing the Alabama weather office, claiming that the post was “inconsistent with probabilities from the best forecast products availa...