NOAA Reportedly Fires Hundreds of Weather Forecasters Amid Climate Disaster Concerns

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Signage outside the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA ) National Weather Service forecast office in Albany, N.Y. on Sept. 22, 2015.

WASHINGTON — According to lawmakers and weather authorities, NOAA dismissed hundreds of weather forecasters and other federal employees on probationary status on Thursday.

Current federal employees reported that the afternoon layoffs impacted meteorologists responsible for vital local forecasts at National Weather Service offices nationwide.

Former NOAA chief scientist Craig McLean stated that the NOAA cuts seemed to occur in two phases, one of 500 and another of 800, totaling roughly 10% of NOAA’s workforce. McLean cited a direct source for this information.

McLean specified that the initial round of layoffs involved probationary employees, with approximately 375 such employees working in the National Weather Service, responsible for daily forecasting and hazard warnings.

These firings are occurring amidst efforts by billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency to reduce the federal workforce, which President Donald Trump has previously described as bloated and inefficient. Thousands of probationary employees across the government have been affected.

Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., issued a statement condemning the termination notices given to hundreds of NOAA employees, including weather forecasters at the NWS, as “unconscionable” and without justification.

Meng further stated that these dedicated Americans contribute to saving lives and property from the destructive consequences of natural disasters and that this action will only jeopardize American lives in the future.

Rep. Jared Huffman, a California Democrat and ranking minority member of the House Natural Resources Committee, also reported the dismissal of “hundreds of scientists and experts at NOAA.”

Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, commented on social media that the job cuts were “spectacularly short-sighted” and would ultimately “deal a major self-inflicted wound to the public safety of Americans and the resiliency of the American economy to weather and climate-related disasters.”