Trump cuts leave National Weather Service scrambling to cover vital shifts
The National Weather Service is offering transfers to meteorologists to fill staffing vacancies after Trump administration budget and staff cuts.
Whether they’ve scrambled to get approval to buy office supplies or fix plumbing, cover shifts during severe weather that lasted for days or get tornado damage surveys completed, it’s been a rough few months for many National Weather Service employees.
More than 550 of the 4,800 weather service employees were either dismissed, retired or accepted incentive offers to leave after the administration of President Donald Trump ordered agencies to reduce staff and draft reorganization plans.
Now many of the nation's 122 local weather service forecast offices, typically staffed 24/7, seven days a week, are short-handed. The departures included many senior level meteorologists who retired. In the Eastern Region alone, weather service employees tallied 700 years of experience lost.
"Several local (weather service) offices are temporarily operating below around-the-clock staffing," according to a statement from Kim Doster, director of communications for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees the weather service.
To try to address the gaps, weather service officials are offering employees who remain on staff opportunities to transfer to try and fill 155 positions in house, including at least 76 open meteorology positions in the continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii and Guam, according to internal notices provided to Paste BN.
Earlier in May, five former directors of the weather service wrote a "letter to the American people" expressing concern about the staffing shortages and other issues, such as a reduction in weather balloon deployments.
The former directors stated they know "firsthand what it takes to make accurate forecasts happen and we stand united against the loss of staff and resources at NWS and are deeply concerned about NOAA as a whole."
“Our worst nightmare is that weather forecast offices will be so understaffed that there will be needless loss of life," they said. "We know that’s a nightmare shared by those on the forecasting front lines—and by the people who depend on their efforts.”
Offices closed overnight, fewer measurements
Concerns for the future of the weather service and for NOAA were heightened by the suggestions in the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025. Although Trump disavowed the document on the campaign trail, it has become a blueprint for the administration, with many of its recommendations already in play. One of its chief architects, Russell Vought, was appointed director of the Office of Management and Budget, a position he held in the previous Trump administration.
Before the inauguration, the weather service under Director Ken Graham, had been in the middle of its first major "transformation" in more than 30 years, with a team of employees working to reorganize the agency.
Paste BN previously reported that after all the terminations and early departures vacancies were as high as 40% in some weather service offices, creating critical staff shortages and a degradation in some services, according to Rick Spinrad, former administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees the weather service. Former long-time employees say that’s in part because the agency had already been operating at minimum staffing levels in some locations.
The lack of meteorologists prompted advisories from several forecast offices that the number of updates, social media posts or other services could be reduced or delayed, and that in some cases the offices may not operate 24 hours a day. Several offices announced they would temporarily halt the twice-daily balloon launches that collect important weather data or cut them to once a day.
In Goodland, Kansas the weather service announced its long-term forecast and area forecast discussion would be issued once a day, and that the weather service office in Dodge City, about 130 miles away, would be helping remotely with some tasks. "If hazardous weather occurs when our office is not occupied, Dodge City will issue theappropriate warnings or advisories as needed," the notice stated.
In Sacramento, California, the weather service warned its office would have reduced staffing overnight. The letter also stated that a detailed hazard approach that had been available for previous weather warnings was only able to be mapped on the weather service's "NWS Weather and Hazards Viewer, which is not supported 24/7."
In late April, Congressman Mike Flood (R-Nebraska) said he had taken his concerns about cuts in the Valley, Nebraska office to the White House and that the president and others “stepped up to address these concerns quickly.”
'Reassignment opportunities'
The weather service is trying to fill positions in more than three dozen locations, including two meteorologist positions each in 14 forecast offices and three in Juneau, Alaska. Over half of the meteorology positions the weather service is trying to fill are for lead meteorologist or more senior positions, including five meteorologists who supervise the forecast offices.
Also open for "reassignment opportunities" are more than two dozen jobs for systems analyst or information technology.
The positions are scattered across the agency from Guam to Fairbanks and Key West. Five of the vacant positions are in the Hanford, California office. Employees selected for the transfers may be authorized for relocation expenses, the email stated and priority will be given to applicants whose transfer wouldn’t leave yet another forecast office in the lurch.
The statement from Doster said the service "continues to meet its core mission of prioritizing critical services that keep the American public safe and informed." It plans to "ensure resilience and continuity of mission-critical functions and does not anticipate a significant impact in services as we work to mitigate potential impacts and direct other regional offices to provide additional support."
Cracks are starting to show
Many people don’t understand how critical weather forecasts and extreme weather warnings are to the nation, the former weather service directors wrote.
Without accurate forecasts, airplanes can’t fly, farmers and fishermen can’t run their businesses safely, the directors said. “The dedicated staff at weather forecast offices around the country work 24/7/365 to make sure you get that information. Their dedication to public service - and public safety - is unparalleled.”
The reason the impacts of the cuts haven’t already been apparent to more people is “because of the valiant efforts of the people who remain in these critically understaffed roles,” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources. Those employees have tried to maintain a semblance of normalcy, he said, but “the cracks are really now starting to show.”
Dinah Voyles Pulver, a national correspondent for Paste BN, covers climate change, weather, the environment and other news. Reach her at dpulver@usatoday.com or @dinahvp on Bluesky or X or dinahvp.77 on Signal.