New Hires Will Still Leave the NWS Dangerously Understaffed, Meteorologists Say<\/p>\n
Nearly 600 employees left the National Weather Service or were fired in recent months. Meteorologists say 125 expected new hires will still leave the agency dangerously understaffed<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
By Chelsea Harvey<\/a> & E&E News<\/a> <\/p>\n A tornado struck communities in Somerset and London, Ky., on May 16, 2025, leaving 19 dead and more injured.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Michael Swensen\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n CLIMATEWIRE |<\/b> New hiring efforts at the National Weather Service won\u2019t be enough to overcome staffing shortages and potential risks to human lives this summer, meteorologists warned Wednesday at a panel hosted by Democratic Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell.<\/p>\n NOAA will hire around 125 new employees at the NWS, the agency said in an announcement first reported Monday by CNN<\/a>. But nearly 600 employees have departed the NWS over the last few months, after the Trump administration fired probationary federal employees and offered buyouts and early retirements.<\/p>\n That means the new hires will account for less than 25 percent of the total losses.<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing<\/a>. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n \u201cA quarter of the staff are not going to do the job when, let\u2019s just say, both hurricane and fire risks are increasing,\u201d Cantwell said during Wednesday\u2019s panel. \u201c[The Trump administration\u2019s] approach in response to this has been a flimsy Band-Aid over a very massive cut.\u201d<\/p>\n Cantwell added that the National Hurricane Center is not fully staffed, as NOAA officials suggested last month<\/a> when announcing their predictions for the upcoming Atlantic hurricane season outlook. The NHC has at least five vacancies, she said, representing meteorologists and technicians who help build forecasts for tropical cyclones in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, NOAA is predicting above-average activity in the Atlantic this hurricane season. Updated fire maps also suggest that nearly all of Cantwell\u2019s home state of Washington, along with Oregon and large swaths of California, will experience an above-average risk of wildfires by August.<\/p>\n Kim Doster, NOAA\u2019s director of communications, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on NOAA\u2019s staffing shortages or the NHC\u2019s vacancies.<\/p>\n Three meteorologists speaking on the panel echoed Cantwell\u2019s concerns, suggesting that staffing shortages at weather offices across the country risk forecasting errors and breakdowns in communication between meteorologists and emergency managers.<\/p>\n At least eight local weather offices across the country are currently so short-staffed that they can no longer cover their overnight shifts, said Brian LaMarre, a former meteorologist-in-charge at the NWS office in Tampa Bay, Florida. Some of these offices may have to rely on \u201cmutual aid,\u201d or borrowed staff, from other NWS locations to cover their shifts during extreme weather events.<\/p>\n But Cantwell and other panelists expressed concern that staff-sharing across the NWS could erode the accuracy of forecasts and warnings for local communities.<\/p>\n Cantwell pointed to the meteorologists that specialize in fire weather forecasts. NOAA typically deploys those experts to provide forecasts and recommendations to firefighters on the ground when wildfires strike.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you think you’re gonna substitute somebody that\u2019s gonna be somewhere else \u2014 I don\u2019t know where, some other part of the state or some other state \u2014 and you think you’re gonna give them accurate weather information? It just doesn’t work that way,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Washington state-based broadcast meteorologist Jeff Renner echoed her concerns.<\/p>\n \u201cThe meteorologists that respond to [wildfires] have very specific training and very specific experience that can\u2019t be easily duplicated, particularly from those outside the area,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, LaMarre\u2019s former position in Tampa is vacant, and around 30 other offices across the country are also operating without a permanent meteorologist-in-charge.<\/p>\n \u201cThat person is the main point of contact when it comes to briefing elected officials, emergency management directors, state governors, city mayors, parish officials,\u201d LaMarre said. \u201cThey are the individual that\u2019s gonna be implementing any new change that is needed for hurricane season, blizzards, wildfires, inland flooding.\u201d<\/p>\n The NWS suffered from staffing shortages prior to the Trump administration. But LaMarre said he never saw such widespread vacancies, including offices unable to operate overnight, in his 30 years at the agency.<\/p>\n He emphasized that NWS meteorologists will do whatever it takes to ensure accurate forecasts when extreme weather strikes. But too many gaps at local offices mean that some services will inevitably suffer, LaMarre added.<\/p>\n \u201cWhenever you look at an office that is short-staffed, that means a piece of that larger puzzle is taken away,\u201d he said. \u201cThat means some outreach might not be able to occur. Some trainings might not be able to occur. Some briefings to officials might not be able to occur.\u201d<\/p>\n Reprinted from <\/i>E&E News<\/i><\/a> with permission from POLITICO, LLC. Copyright 2025. E&E News provides essential news for energy and environment professionals.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Rear](\"https:\/\/static.scientificamerican.com\/dam\/m\/36b34514a00a5a6b\/original\/london_kentucky_tornado_aftermath.jpg?m=1749140221.888&w=600\")
On supporting science journalism<\/h2>\n