Four regional climate centers in the United States have reopened — including those in the Midwest, Great Plains, and South.
The centers and their websites shut down abruptly on April 17 due to a lapse in federal funding, but resumed operations this week after receiving stop-gap funds.
They will now continue to operate as normal until a deadline in mid-June, when all six of the centers are set to renew their contracts with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration through the Department of Commerce.
Under the guidance of Secretary Howard Lutnick, the Department of Commerce is reportedly reviewing all federal contracts over $100,000, which has led to some federal funding delays.
Along with collecting and sharing state climate data, the centers also provide free online resources, such as drought monitors and heat index tools. While many in the agriculture industry, as well as climate scientists, utilize these services, those resources are free to anyone.
Researcher Alison Tarter of the Southern Regional Climate Center — which is based in College Station, Texas, and covers six states, including Oklahoma — says their center received an increase of email missives last week from many of the people who depend on the climate center.
"Between that and our social media we had over 30,000 engagements," Tarter said. "People were kind of in disbelief that something so seemingly simple could go away so quickly."
Both the SRCC and the Midwest Regional Climate Center — which covers nine states — were among those whose climate data services were restored on April 21 following an influx of online support.
The High Plains Regional Climate Center — which covers six states — resumed operations April 18, some 36 hours after going dark. Gannon Rush, a climatologist with the HPRCC told Nebraska Public Media that over 50 people submitted an online form to indicate the tools and data are important to their work.
"I'm glad it was as short as it was, because I think a lot of people would start feeling the effect as we kept going and going and going, if we'd been down," Rush said.
Nebraska Public Media contributed reporting to this story. It was produced in partnership with Harvest Public Media, a collaboration of public media newsrooms in the Midwest. It reports on food systems, agriculture and rural issues.