By MICHAEL BASTASCH
The National Weather Service (NWS) has denied allegations that director Louis Uccellini physically assaulted a staff meteorologist for mentioning “cooling” during a 2014 presentation on Earth’s climate.
“This alleged incident never happened,” NWS spokeswoman Susan Buchanan told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “Dr. Uccellini encourages open discussion on all science issues and perspectives, and he has never had a physical altercation with anyone in his 40-year career.”
Buchanan responded to a report published by Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT) alleging Uccellini “put his hand on the meteorologist’s chest as a warning, and pushed the employee against the wall,” according to an NWS meteorologist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
“I was giving a talk to fellow NWS staff about the jet stream flow in the upper atmosphere. What it showed was large amplitude waves in both the northern and southern hemispheres,” the meteorologist told CFACT.
“I explained that the only way the jet stream could get to be high amplitude is if the atmosphere was actually cooling,” the meteorologist said.
“Right at the bathroom break, the Director of NWS, Louis Uccellini, put a hand on my chest and pushed me up against the wall and said ‘Don’t ever mention the word cooling again,’” the meteorologist said. “He did not mean it in a ‘joking’ way, he absolutely violated my personal space and was dead serious. This was back in 2014.”
