Alex Tardy has ushered San Diegans through fires, floods, even the occasional tsunami warning. As meteorologist for the National Weather Service, Tardy has talked about all things climate to KPBS’s audience in San Diego and elsewhere for 32 years. He retired in April amid proposed radical cuts that would severely weaken the united states’ weather forecasting capabilities. He spoke to KPBS.
Alex, before we get into why you left the National Weather Service in April, talk to me about the importance of weather forecasting. It’s not just about telling us whether we should take an umbrella before we leave the house in the morning, is it?
Tardy: Just looking at your phone gives you the weather forecast information. What’s so important is that National Weather Service meteorologists can warn you ahead of time about dangerous, threatening weather. They can save your life and property in severe weather situations.
You wrote in your retirement announcement that while there was a lot to consider — great staff, unfinished work — but there were limitations that tipped your decision toward retirement.
Tardy: Yeah, this is the first time in my career — so I just finished 32 years in the federal government, National Weather Service — this is the first time where I was restricted. Where I could go, what I could say, who I could meet with. And I’m talking about important meetings like with government agencies, media. That’s something I’d never felt or experienced before in my whole career.
What kind of explanation were you given for those limitations?
Tardy: Some of it was where travel was banned — basically as simple as that, no explanation. Or our government credit cards were reduced to $1. Other situations, you had to prove that it was an emergency, life-threatening situation to meet with any group or any agency.
Where was travel banned?
Tardy: Travel was banned even locally, and I had never experienced that before. The only time I’ve felt that type of limit or impact was during a government shutdown — and that affects everyone and everything, even the military sometimes. So that’s how severe it was. Even local travel, but certainly any regional or national travel to a conference, to a meeting, was not allowed.
What impact do even changes like that have on the practice of weather prediction for San Diego and across the country?
Tardy: Well, part of our weather prediction and our climate monitoring is having relationships with other groups, because we can’t do it all ourselves. We rely on universities, government agencies, we rely on you, the media, to get messages out there about Santa Ana winds and red flag warnings. So there’s a huge impact when you’re not able to get out of the office and meet with people. That was a key component of my job for years — developing relationships, meeting with people, understanding what they need, how they respond, and relaying to them, when it counted, important weather information.
The National Weather Service has lost more than 500 employees through layoffs and early retirement and for other reasons. It is now hiring back about 100 employees to stabilize operations after a public backlash. Is that enough?
Tardy: If we just pick up another 125 or so, it’s going to take a long time to train them, spin them up, get them in, get them in the right locations. We have some offices right now, even in California, that are down about 50% of their staff. Because it’s not just meteorologists, right? It’s administrative, it’s technicians as well. And so it’ll be a band-aid, that 125.
Looking toward the future, the Trump administration has proposed ending climate research and related projects, slashing weather satellite programs and other infrastructure, and ending efforts to monitor the ocean. What would this do to prediction in the country and San Diego specifically?
Tardy: We’re observing the weather — and that actually becomes the climate. So we were the ones, and are the ones, that gather the ocean data, the land data, the sky conditions. We create what we call normal averages and climate. We do that every day, no matter what. And the more you do that, the better you understand the impacts and the better you understand how to predict the weather. The better you become, and the more services you can provide — more lead time, more preparation for the general public. So not having climate observations — I mean, that’s a dagger. It would be a huge loss. We’re not the researchers, but we provide the data to the researchers.
You are someone who has committed 32 years of your professional life to weather forecasting. What kind of effect is this having on you personally?
Tardy: Yeah, this was a big change. After 32 years, I knew I had things I hadn’t completed. I knew I had things I could still do. I still had the energy, the passion. It doesn’t feel like work to me — to monitor the weather, to predict the weather, to inform people, to educate about the weather. So it’s a dramatic change. It was not something I thought of overnight and said, “Oh, I’m gonna leave.”
Given that’s the case, given that you haven’t lost that passion, what’s next for you?
Tardy: The weather has never felt like work. I used to write the weather down on a calendar when I was 8 years old — no matter what — and that becomes climate data. So I’ll be doing a lot of skiing. I got an Ikon pass. I’ll be doing part-time weather. I’m spinning up a business called Weather Echo LLC. I’ll do a lot of the same work that I used to do — talking to the media, talking to government agencies, talking to the public and outreach.
So it’s not an absolute farewell to Alex Tardy.
Tardy: No. It’s hard to get the weather out of someone once it’s in them. Yeah, we’re all under weather threats, and those are not going away.
