Workers in the National Weather Service are 'shocked, stunned and irate' at their bosses in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for backing Trump up and claiming that he was right to say Hurricane Dorian was headed for Alabama.

In a string of baffling developments now known as 'Sharpiegate', the row centers on the president's September 1 tweet that the brutal storm was likely to hit Alabama 'harder' than expected. The NWS Birmingham office quickly issued a tweet to insist the state was not in the storm's path.

Trump then defended his statement and insist it was based on early information that had been given to him by scientists. At an Oval Office press conference on September 4, he held up an August 29 map of the storm's path to prove his point.

That map showed the storm's path as heading towards northern Florida and parts of Georgia. The original one, which had been issued by the NOAA, did not show Alabama being but but the one Trump held up had the state circled in black sharpie.

Reporters picked up on the difference and called the 'doctoring' of the map 'Sharpiegate'.

On Friday night - as Dorian rattled along Northeast Coast , setting its sights on New England after savaging the Bahamas and the Carolinas - the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is the umbrella agency of which the NWS is a part, issued a statement saying Trump was right and the NWS Birmingham office was wrong to admonish him.

Its support of the president has now infuriated workers within the NWS who say they have been 'thrown under the bus'.

Dan Sobien, the president of the National Weather Service Employees Organization which takes in 4,000 workers, issued these scathing tweets on Friday night

'I have never been so embarrassed by NOAA. What they did is disgusting.

'Let me assure you the hard working employees of the NWS had nothing to do with the utterly disgusting and disingenuous tweet sent out by the NOAA management,' Dan Sobien, the president of the National Weather Service Employees Organization, which represents 4,000 employees, tweeted.

He later told The Daily Beast: 'Never ever before has their management thrown them under the bus like this.

'These are the people risking their lives flying into hurricanes and putting out forecasts that save lives. Never before has their management undercut their scientifically sound reasoning and forecasts.'

'What is very important is when the NWS issues a hurricane warning or flash flood warning—it’s very important [that] everyone is on the same page. It’s hard enough to convince people to evacuate or take cover. If you have confusion, it could be very bad. Dan Sobien, president of the National Weather Service workers' union

Sobien said that workers are so furious they are talking about taking sharpie pens to their NOAA t-shirts.

He added that the NOAA's statement was not only cruel to them but that the confusing mixed messages from government agencies who are tasked with evacuating people in severe weather situations put lives in danger.

'What is very important is when the NWS issues a hurricane warning or flash flood warning—it’s very important [that] everyone is on the same page.

'It’s hard enough to convince people to evacuate or take cover. If you have confusion, it could be very bad.

'Are people not going to believe the Hurricane Center or our forecasts now?' he said.

The beginning of the row: On September 1, Trump issued this tweet warning that Dorian may hit Alabama

The NWS office in Birmingham, Alabama, issued a correction to say the president was wrong

On September 4, Trump held an Oval Office press conference where he held up an August 29 map of the storm's path which appeared to have Alabama circled in black sharpie

A close up of the map shows how the southeastern tip of Alabama had been circled with a sharpie

This is the original forecast map from August 29 which showed the storm's path

Trump defended his statements and said he was acting on information from the NOAA

In its statement, the NOAA said the president was acting on information that while outdated, suggested that in the early stages of the storm, Alabama could have been potentially hit.

'From August 29 to September 2, the information provided by the NOAA and the National Hurricane Center to President Trump and the wider public demonstrated that tropical-storm-force winds from Hurricane Doriancould impact Alabama.

'The Birmingham National Weather Service's Sunday morning tweet spoke in absolute terms that were inconsistent with probabilities from the best forecast available at the time,' the statement, attributed to an unnamed spokesman for the NOAA, said.

On Friday, Trump blamed the row on the 'fake news media' for 'fixating' on his September 1 tweet.

'The Fake News Media was fixated on the fact that I properly said, at the beginnings of Hurricane Dorian, that in addition to Florida & other states, Alabama may also be grazed or hit.

This is a map of the storm's path on September 4 - the day Trump held his Oval Office meeting - which shows how Dorian had changed direction

The latest: A Saturday, September 7, map shows how Dorian is expected to move along New England, hitting Maine, Massachusetts, Nova Scotia and then Newfoundland, over the weekend

'They went crazy, hoping against hope that I made a mistake (which I didn't). Check out maps... This nonsense has never happened to another President.

'Four days of corrupt reporting, still without an apology. But there are many things that the Fake News Media has not apologized to me for, like the Witch Hunt , or SpyGate!

'The LameStream Media and their Democrat partner should start playing it straight. It would be so much better for our Country!' he tweeted on September 6.

Dorian is now moving at a speed of 25mph along the northeast coast, setting its sights on New England.

Hurricane conditions are predicted in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, with tropical storm conditions (heavy rain and wind) likely in Massachussetts and Maine too.

'On the forecast track, the center of Dorian should pass to the southeast of extreme southeastern New England this morning, and then move across Nova Scotia and Newfoundland later today and tonight.

'Preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion.'

A home in Nags Head, North Carolina, on Friday as Dorian passed through the southern state