Former National Weather Service directors push back against cuts
The former admins say that staffing reductions could lead to unnecessary deaths during severe weather like tornadoes, wildfires and hurricanes.
Five former directors of the National Weather Service are warning that additional cuts to the agency’s staffing could lead to unnecessary deaths during severe weather such as tornadoes, wildfires and hurricanes.
“Our worst nightmare is that weather forecast offices will be so understaffed that there will be needless loss of life. We know that’s a nightmare shared by those on the forecasting front lines—and by the people who depend on their efforts,” they wrote in an open letter published Friday.
The former directors — who served between 1988 and 2022 — said that between the Trump administration’s cuts to probationary workers and personnel reductions through buyouts, the weather service’s staffing has been reduced by more than 10% during the busiest time for severe storm predictions.
They said they’re also concerned about the Trump administration’s budget request for the next fiscal year, after the administration outlined in a letter to Congress a $1.52 billion proposed cut for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the weather service’s parent agency.
“NWS staff will have an impossible task to continue its current level of services,” they wrote, if further cuts are implemented. “Some forecast offices will be so short-staffed that they may be forced to go to part time services."
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