Don’t listen to conservative commentator Matt Drudge if you want to know which way the hurricane wind blows, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association insisted.
The agency of the US Department of Commerce — under fire from the founder of the Drudge Report for being politicized — insisted it is not.
“We go with our data. That’s the end of it,” NOAA forecaster Martin Nelson told Popular Science.
“We use the science that we have and that’s what we do,” he added.
Drudge on Thursday questioned the severity of Hurricane Matthew in a series of tweets.
“The deplorables are starting to wonder if govt has been lying to them about Hurricane Matthew intensity to make exaggerated point on climate,” Drudge said in one tweet.
“Hurricane Center has monopoly on data. No way of verifying claims. Nassau ground observations DID NOT match statements! 165mph gusts? WHERE?” he said in another.
NOAA’s chief of tropical analysis and forecast branch Hugh Cobb groaned when asked about Drudge’s tweets — and insisted that the government organization’s data is correct and without political bias.
Cobb told the magazine the storm is “extremely dangerous, and said all of NOAA’s data is collected by aircraft with “no political agenda.”