Life-Saving Avalanche Forecasts Could Be Hit Next By Trump Cuts

The Trump White House's firing of hundreds of meteorologists and other scientists could hinder forecasts that skiers and mountain drivers rely on, fear officials.

LEADVILLE, Colo. (AP) — Officials in the Western U.S. who warn the public about avalanches are sounding a different type of alarm. They say they’re worried that the Trump administration firing hundreds of meteorologists and other environmental scientists could hinder life-saving forecasts that skiers and mountain drivers rely on.

The forecasting work is crucial for skiers and climbers who flirt with danger when they travel through mountain gullies that are prone to slide.

Recovery efforts for three victims of a large avalanche near Anchorage, Alaska, were ongoing Thursday, two days after the accident in mountains where forecasters had warned it would be “easy” to trigger a slide that day because of a weak layer in the deep snow.

The forecasts also are used to protect the general public. Transportation officials use them to gauge the risk on well-traveled roads like one in Colorado where a vehicle got pushed off the highway by a slide earlier this month.

“We save lives and there are people alive today because of the work we do,” said Doug Chabot, who directed the Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center in Montana for almost 24 years. “To take funding and to just randomly cut programs, it will affect our ability to save lives.”