Trump admin hands off major U.S. weather supercomputer to unnamed outsider

Supercomputer gets handed to unknown operator

The Trump administration wants to transfer control of one of the country’s most powerful weather supercomputers to an outside operator — and nobody knows who that is yet.

On Feb. 12, 2026, the National Science Foundation announced the NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center in Cheyenne, Wyoming, will be handed to a third party.

NSF did not name the new operator or give a timeline. The center has been run by the National Center for Atmospheric Research since it opened in 2012.

This machine runs your weather forecast

The center houses Derecho, a $35 million supercomputer that can run nearly 20 quadrillion calculations per second.

About 1,500 researchers from more than 500 universities use it every year. The models they build and test on Derecho feed into the forecasts Americans view.

NOAA relies on the facility to run some of its current forecast models. NOAA also chose NCAR’s modeling system for its next-generation forecast upgrade.

Better forecasts start here

High-performance computing is the engine behind modern weather prediction.

Scientists use machines like Derecho to simulate weather patterns and test whether new forecast models are accurate before they go live.

Separating the supercomputer from the research center could cut off scientists from computing power they need to keep improving those forecasts.

Researchers have used the facility to run detailed global weather forecasts at a level of detail never reached before.

NCAR helped end a deadly aviation mystery

Before NCAR stepped in, pilots were dying in crashes nobody could explain. Wind shear accidents killed more than 400 people in the United States between 1973 and 1985.

NCAR researchers helped discover and explain microbursts — sudden violent downdrafts that were bringing planes down near airports.

They worked with the FAA to build Doppler radar warning systems that detect dangerous wind conditions. There has not been a microburst-caused commercial crash in the United States since 1994.

White House calls NCAR a source of alarmism

The administration announced plans to break up NCAR in December 2025.

Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought called it “one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country.”

The supercomputer transfer is part of that broader effort. The administration said vital weather research would move to another entity, but has not said where or how.

NCAR’s work covers weather forecasting, aviation safety, wildfire modeling, and space weather — well beyond climate research.

NSF letter quietly dropped “climate”

In January 2026, NSF asked the scientific community how NCAR should be restructured.

The letter invited proposals for new public or private ownership of NCAR’s Mesa Laboratory in Boulder, Colo. It expressed support for weather programs, but made no mention of climate research continuing.

Scientists noticed the omission right away. NSF set a March 13 deadline for public comments on the restructuring plan.

Wyoming officials want the facility to survive

The University of Wyoming holds 20% of Derecho’s computing capacity under an agreement that dates to when the center opened.

UW President Ed Seidel called the supercomputer a great asset for the university and state, and said the school is following the process closely.

Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins said the goal is to make sure the facility survives in Wyoming. Collins noted the computer’s work helps the military, communities, and university researchers — not just climate scientists.

Colorado senators tried to block the move

Colorado Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper tried to add NCAR funding protections to a January 2026 spending bill.

They had delayed the spending package in December 2025 to press for the amendment. Senate Republicans blocked it.

The spending bill the president signed does not include language protecting NCAR. Bennet said he would pursue all available options to protect the center.

Some see retaliation behind the decision

Some Colorado officials believe the move ties back to a dispute between the White House and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis.

The dispute centers on Tina Peters, a former county election clerk convicted under state law for illegally accessing voting machines after the 2020 election.

Trump issued a symbolic pardon for Peters, but the state said it had no legal effect on her sentence. Rep. Joe Neguse called the administration’s actions “retaliatory”.

Big questions remain unanswered

The supercomputer transfer has not happened yet.

NCAR Director Everette Joseph told staff in a letter that many questions remain, including who the new operator will be. The March 13 deadline for restructuring comments may shape what comes next.

A former NCAR operations manager and Trump supporter in Cheyenne said the president may be getting bad advice, adding that the science NCAR does goes far beyond climate change.

The stakes go beyond one lab

The White House has also proposed cutting NOAA’s budget by about 27% and eliminating its core climate and weather research office. The administration has pulled back NSF funding for climate science more broadly.

The United States has averaged about $150 billion per year in weather-related disaster losses over the past decade.

Experts say dismantling NCAR would not immediately break weather forecasting but would slowly weaken the science behind future improvements.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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