Staff reductions at both agencies pose a threat to public safety, wildfire preparedness
WASHINGTON – As the nation enters peak hurricane and wildfire season, U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper reiterated his call on the Trump administration to fully reinstate all fired federal employees at the National Weather Service (NWS) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to protect Americans from natural disasters.
“NWS employees and the programs they support are essential to the safety of the millions of Americans impacted by storms and disasters each year,” wrote the senators. “NWS would be unable to provide accurate and timely forecasts without sufficient staffing levels at weather forecast offices nationwide.”
NWS maintains 122 weather forecast offices across the United States which are responsible for providing 24/7 weather monitoring and forecasts. The Department of Commerce is reportedly planning to eliminate an additional 1,000 staff from NOAA, including at NWS, in the coming weeks. These cuts, combined with current staffing constraints, could reduce the NWS workforce by 15% just months into 2025.
The Trump administration’s decision this week to partially reinstate about 126 personnel to ‘stabilize operations’ at NWS field offices is progress – but falls short of what’s needed to keep Colorado safe.
Hickenlooper previously raised alarm about the Trump admin’s plans to cut funding for NOAA and Colorado-based research centers. He also called for an investigation into the mass layoffs at NOAA and its impacts on crucial services, including relaying emergency alerts in wildfires and supporting farmers’ drought mitigation efforts.
In their letter, the senators requested answers to the following questions:
- How many of the NWS regional weather forecast offices were impacted by terminations or deferred resignations since January 20, 2025? Please provide a list of affected offices, including how many staff departed and how many remain.
- With reports of at least one weather forecast office in Goodland, Kansas stopping 24/7 operations due to staffing shortages, how do the Department of Commerce and NOAA plan to maintain continued 24/7 operation of forecasting offices without requiring excessive overtime hours from staff?
- With a requested budget cut of $1.311 billion for NOAA’s overall budget, and a $209 million cut for NWS procurement of weather satellites and infrastructure, how does the Department of Commerce and NOAA plan to ensure adequate staffing and preparedness in the midst of worsening storm seasons, increasing heat waves, and changing weather patterns?
- As NWS employees are critical to public safety, especially heading into hurricane season, will the Department of Commerce grant an exemption to the hiring freeze to fill these crucial positions?
Full text of the letter available HERE and below.
Dear Secretary Lutnick, and Acting Administrator Grimm,
We write to express our concern with recent layoffs at the National Weather Service (NWS). Reports indicate that over 550 employees have been terminated or accepted deferred resignation offers. We believe that these staff reductions pose a threat to public safety and emergency preparedness by undercutting essential forecasting and weather monitoring systems. We urge you to reinstate terminated NWS employees and request additional information on how the administration plans to address staffing at NWS.
NWS maintains 122 weather forecast offices across the United States which are responsible for providing 24/7 weather monitoring and forecasts. NWS would be unable to provide accurate and timely forecasts without sufficient staffing levels at weather forecast offices nationwide. In addition to daily forecasting operations, weather forecast offices are responsible for issuing emergency weather warnings ahead of events such as major floods, wildfire hazards, hurricanes, and blizzard conditions. As the frequency and severity of such disasters increase, maintaining
NWS’s real-time forecasting operations is essential to saving lives and reducing the cost of recovery for disaster-affected communities.
NWS employees and the programs they support are essential to the safety of the millions of Americans impacted by storms and disasters each year. On February 27, 2025, 108 probationary NWS employees were terminated, adding to the 170 staff who accepted the Administration’s “deferred resignation” plan earlier that month. These staffing cuts are already impacting NWS services, forcing NWS to halt weather balloon launches in New York, Maine, and Alaska that provide daily weather data to meteorologists at weather forecast offices across the country. As we head into hurricane season, 30 weather forecast offices are without a meteorologist-in-charge, one is completely without any managers at all, and nearly a dozen are preparing to shut down 24/7 services without immediate action to address shortages.
The Department of Commerce is reportedly planning to eliminate an additional 1,000 staff from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), including at NWS, in the coming weeks. All told, NWS offices, already suffering from staffing constraints, could see a 15% reduction in force just months into 2025.
We request a response to the following questions by June 10, 2025:
- How many of the NWS regional weather forecast offices were impacted by terminations or deferred resignations since January 20, 2025? Please provide a list of affected offices, including how many staff departed and how many remain.
- With reports of at least one weather forecast office in Goodland, Kansas stopping 24/7 operations due to staffing shortages, how do the Department of Commerce and NOAA plan to maintain continued 24/7 operation of forecasting offices without requiring excessive overtime hours from staff?
- With a requested budget cut of $1.311 billion for NOAA’s overall budget, and a $209 million cut for NWS procurement of weather satellites and infrastructure, how does the Department of Commerce and NOAA plan to ensure adequate staffing and preparedness in the midst of worsening storm seasons, increasing heat waves, and changing weather patterns?
- As NWS employees are critical to public safety, especially heading into hurricane season, will the Department of Commerce grant an exemption to the hiring freeze to fill these crucial positions?
We urge you to reassess the staffing needs at NOAA and NWS and reinstate terminated probationary employees swiftly. We appreciate your attention to this matter and look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
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