I heard about this on one of the Ham shows (
amateurlogic.tv) and also saw it on the ARRL website:
http://www.arrl.org/news/nist-fy-2019-budget-would-eliminate-wwv-and-wwvhBeyond Amateur Radio and Shortwave listening, the time signals serve as precise reference beacons for other purposes such as calibration to a known frequency standard.
A potentially larger issue would be WWVB going off the air. According to Wikipedia, there are over 50 million "atomic clock" receivers that would be affected. I have several wall clocks and even my wristwatch (Casio Waveceptor) would be affected and no longer synchronize to the accurate time source. There seems to be some controversy in some Ham forums about whether WWVB is also affected, but there are quotes from the NIST that seem to support this notion that the WWVB signal would also be affected.
In 2011, NIST estimated the number of radio clocks and wristwatches equipped with a WWVB receiver at over 50 million.
There is a
petition on whitehouse.gov for this issue. This message is on the petition site:
NIST station WWV and sister stations are among the oldest radio stations in the United States, having been in continuous operation since May 1920. The station has transmitted the official US Time for nearly 100 years, and is an instrumental part in the telecommunications field, ranging from broadcasting to scientific research and education. Additionally, these stations transmit marine storm warnings from the National Weather Service, GPS satellite health reports, and specific information concerning current solar activity, and radio propagation conditions. These broadcasts are an essential resource to the worldwide communications industry. This petition requests continued funding of these stations be maintained into the 21st century and beyond to ensure future operations.
I signed the petition and emailed my congressman about this.
I realize that this isn't directly "weather related", but I believe that some of the weather station consoles have "atomic clock" capabilities that synchronize the time.
Greg H.