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After recent staffing cuts, the National Weather Service is hiring again to stabilize operations ahead of a busy weather season, a spokeswoman said.
Erica Grow Cei, a spokeswoman for the National Weather Service, said a targeted number of permanent positions will soon be advertised. The move follows the loss of nearly 600 employees to layoffs and retirements during President Donald Trump administration’s federal workforce reductions.
Tom Fahy, legislative director for the National Weather Service Employees Organization, said the agency was granted an exemption to a governmentwide hiring freeze and approved to fill 126 positions. Openings include meteorologists, hydrologists, physical scientists, and electronics technicians.
Reduced staffing had already led to operational impacts, with some forecast offices unable to operate overnight and others scaling back their twice-daily weather balloon launches, which collect data essential for forecasts. The remaining staff were assigned to short-term duty in understaffed regions to help fill critical gaps.
This comes as the U.S. faces a series of costly and dangerous weather events, including wildfires in California, tornado outbreaks, and severe hailstorms. With the Atlantic hurricane season that started June 8, concerns have mounted about understaffed offices and employee fatigue.
At a news conference in New Orleans last month, officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration—the Weather Service’s parent agency—addressed concerns while announcing a forecast for an above-average hurricane season.
“We are fully staffed at the National Hurricane Center,” said Laura Grimm, NOAA’s acting administrator. “We are very supportive of our national weather staff.”
Representative Mike Flood, a Republican from Nebraska who helped push to restore staffing at one forecast office, supported the hiring move.
“Hiring these positions will help ensure that the agency is able to deliver information the public relies on across the nation to stay safe amid severe weather,” Flood said.
