Austin Murphy, PRESS DEMOCRAT
The short-staffed California Nevada River Forecast Center, a small Sacramento field office of the National Weather Service, has outsized importance to North Bay residents. Its operations are imperiled by downsizing and proposed cuts.
The closer you live to the Russian River, the likelier it is you’ve spent time on this no-frills website, whose wavy, colored lines alert users when the river is approaching flood levels, and when it will recede.
The site is maintained by the California Nevada River Forecast Center, or CNRFC, under the umbrella of the National Weather Service. It’s one of 13 forecast centers preparing “timely river and flood forecasts” for some 4,000 river locations across the nation.
The California Nevada forecast center is a small field office, based in Sacramento. But its work has outsized importance to North Bay residents.
The data it collects during heavy rains helps emergency service officials figure out who needs to be evacuated as the region’s largest rivers rise, none packing a more destructive, dangerous punch than the Russian.
The CNRFC also provides information vital to Sonoma Water, the Army Corps of Engineers and other agencies, as they make decisions on when to release water from reservoirs, and how much.
But now, in the face of cuts and attrition engineered by the Trump administration, that office is operating with a little over two-thirds of its usual workforce. Under Trump, staff shortages have become endemic in offices throughout the National Weather Service.
Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/flooding-forecasts-trump-cuts/?ref=sf-rail-2