"In the 20 years since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, hurricane scientists have made great strides toward understanding how climate change influences tropical cyclones, at the same time as they have vastly improved hurricane forecasting. Better forecasts, in turn, save the country billions every time a storm makes landfall, according to a 2024 analysis published in the National Bureau of Economic Research.
But the progress didn't come out of thin air, says Gabriel Vecchi, a hurricane and climate scientist at Princeton University. In 2005, Katrina, and other damaging storms from that era, like Rita and Wilma, spurred a concerted push to get better at forecasting hurricanes. That energy was harnessed into a federally supported research effort, called the Hurricane Forecast Improvement Project, that gathered together the best scientists from across agencies, private universities and national laboratories in an effort that has continued through today.
A five-day forecast of a hurricane's future track, for example, is roughly as good now as a two-day forecast was when Katrina struck.
But that progress, and future improvements, are now at risk, Vecchi says, because of the ongoing disruptions to federal agencies and the country's science enterprise imposed by the Trump administration, which has slashed the size of the federal government in the months since Trump took office."
Alejandra Borunda reports for NPR August 21, 2025.
SEE ALSO:
"A Retired General Recalls Hurricane Katrina's Chaos And Lessons Still Unlearned" (NPR)
"20 Years After Hurricane Katrina, St. Bernard Parish Is Still Recovering" (NPR)
"Hurricane Katrina Forced Changes at FEMA. Trump Is Rolling Them Back" (NPR)
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