'People will die because of this': Meteorologists warn of consequences of latest cuts

Many staffers from the National Weather Service (NWS) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) received notice of termination on Thursday and Friday as part of the ongoing slashing of the federal government.

When he came into office, President Donald Trump created the "Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)" by executive order. That initiative has been behind the upheaval and dismantling of government agencies. Websites, grants, programs, and employees have all been cut or frozen.

Trump tasked billionaire Elon Musk to run the program, which began with eliminating any jobs for those in their probationary period of the positions.

On Friday, NBC's White House correspondent Aaron Gilchrist cited an administration official who said about 600 people had been cut. The administration also claimed that no critical staff were among them.

Those inside NOAA posted on X that there are more than 1,000. Unlike other federal agencies, NOAA and the NWS operate on a 24/7 basis, according to their website.

Firing probationary jobs implies that these are all low-level employees, but one meteorologist said that's not entirely accurate.

"All probationary federal employees at NOAA’s EMC that’s responsible for keeping all US weather model systems running have been fired with 1 hours notice. And that includes me and colleagues. We will not go quietly because we care about the NOAA mission to protect the public," said a self-described "weather model nerd" who worked at NOAA and goes by Dr. Larissa on BlueSky.

Andy Hazelton, a physical scientist at NWS, noted that NOAA differs from many other federal agencies in terms of sharing staff with educational institutions. Thus, a staffer who worked at a university for years on NOAA programs could have recently moved to NOAA.

"I wanted to specify a detail that I think is relevant from some conversations I've had," Hazelton said. "Most of us (at least at EMC) who were terminated were officially 'probationary' because we are new federal employees, but have been working for NOAA in some capacity (usually on the contract or university side) for 5, 10, 15 years."

He warned that among those staffers are "the group that has the unique combination of early career motivation/drive but also enough expertise to be quickly effective as we are promoted into new roles. This is not the group you'd get rid of if you wanted to make an organization more efficient - it's what you'd do if you want to destroy an organization. I'd like to assume the best and hope that's unintentional. Hopefully the value of what we do can be communicated effectively."

The playbook rumored to be the Trump administration's guide, "Project 2025," was crafted by former Trump officials working with the conservative Heritage Foundation. It contains over 900 pages of advice on which government agencies should be cut.

Project 2025 contains about four pages about NOAA. It describes the agency as "a colossal operation that has become one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry and, as such, is harmful to future U.S. prosperity."

Among the false claims in "Project 2025" is the claim: "Each day, Americans rely on weather forecasts and warnings provided by local radio stations and colleges that are produced not by the NWS, but by private companies such as AccuWeather."

Meteorologists explained that this isn't accurate because the private sector isn't gathering their own data. So, local meteorologists who get forecasts wrong or weather apps aren't inventing their own information. They're interpreting existing NWS data.

WFMY News 2 chief meteorologist Tim Buckley posted on X, "Put in tv terms, when we show you current temps / winds / radar it’s from the NWS. When we cover tornado warnings, they come from NWS. Sure we make our own forecasts, but the US weather models are maintained by NOAA / NWS. Nobody is a good weather forecaster without good data."

"The tornado, hurricane and flood warnings you receive at home aren't automated. They come from local NWS meteorologists with many years of experience. Best forecasts are man + machine. NOAA was already short-staffed," meteorologist Paul Douglas echoed on X.