I was thinking that, too, but prior to the Sun becoming a white dwarf, the Sun is predicted to expand and swallow Earth (and Venus and Mercury), so the Sun’s mass will increase. Assuming the Sun’s expansion lasts long enough to result in those planets being vaporized I would think that additional mass would go back in when the Sun contracts into a white dwarf.

Additionally this will mess up the orbital mass of the solar system so I could see how more asteroids (maybe even a planet?) could get dislodged from its orbit and eventually get swallowed by a dense white dwarf.

But yeah, if the sun just instantly went to a white dwarf from its current state then orbits would probably stay pretty similar. It’s the process in between that could cause some chaos.

Weather forecasting is actually really important for military operations. Consider weather advisories for aircraft, for example. Or planning an offensive on a clear day.

That said I don’t know if this place was doing climate science or weather forecasting (or both).