NWS Scrambles to Replace Staff Cut by DOGE

The National Weather Service is scrambling to rebuild its workforce after steep staffing cuts but progress has been sluggish, raising concerns about the agency's ability to deliver timely and accurate forecasts during critical storm seasons. Despite receiving authorization in July to hire 450 new staff—after roughly 550 positions were cut by DOGE earlier in the year—the NWS has so far secured only about 80 final job acceptances from meteorologists, hydrologists, and other specialists, CNN reports.

With winter storm season looming, more than a dozen forecast offices remain understaffed, a situation that experts warn could undermine the accuracy and speed of potentially life-saving weather warnings. Some of the understaffed offices are in the coldest and snowiest parts of the country, the Washington Post reports. Offices in Goodland, Kansas; Rapid City, South Dakota; and Cheyenne, Wyoming are operating with seven or eight fewer meteorologists than needed. The Des Moines, Iowa office is short six meteorologists and two technical staffers.

The staffing gaps have forced some offices to reduce weather balloon launches, which are essential for collecting data that feed forecasting models, potentially making forecasts less reliable. The NWS is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "It would not be a surprise if we saw a major devastating storm this winter, for which loss of life and damage to property in part was a consequence of not being as prepared as we were with a fully staffed NOAA," Rick Spinrad, NOAA administrator during the Biden administration, tells the Post.

"The administration is trying to put out a fire that they started," Spinrad tells CNN. "The 450 hires for the NWS won't even cover the full shortfall." He says the specialized jobs the NWS is trying to fill have taken up to a year to hire for in the past, but even if the agency "could hire 450 people tomorrow, there is little chance that they would have the centuries of experience held by their predecessors."