The National Weather Service is in worse shape than previously known, according to interviews with current and former meteorologists, due to a combination of layoffs, early retirements and preexisting vacancies.
The nation’s forecasting agency is in tatters as what could be a destructive hurricane season nears. Several current and former agency meteorologists told CNN they are concerned forecasts and life-saving warnings are not going to be issued in time.
Responsible for protecting life and property from severe weather impacts, the National Weather Service is headed into hurricane season with 30 of its 122 weather forecast offices lacking their most experienced official, known as the meteorologist-in-charge.
These include offices that cover major population centers such as New York City, Cleveland, Houston and Tampa.
There is not a single manager in place at the hurricane-prone Houston-Galveston forecast office, according to a NOAA staff member who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal.
That office was the main source of information during Hurricane Harvey, which killed at least 68 people, dumped a record 60.58 inches of rain and flooded large parts of the Houston metro area in 2017.
Already, multiple offices have reduced or eliminated daily weather balloon launches and more are likely to follow suit following a wave of early retirements taking place this week, the NOAA employee said. The balloons provide critical data for computer models that forecasters use to predict the weather, raising the likelihood that projections will be more unreliable.
One NWS forecast office, in Goodland, Kansas, is no longer operating 24/7, with about a dozen more likely to shift to non-24-hour operations if action isn’t taken this month. These offices include several in the Plains states and stretch into the Pacific Northwest.
Such a change is virtually unheard of in the absence of an extreme weather event, such as a hurricane or tornado, that either threatens the lives of the forecasters themselves or knocks them offline.
There are also more than 90 vacancies among the staff responsible for repairing NWS Doppler radars and automated surface weather observation stations, the NOAA staff member said, greatly raising the likelihood of prolonged equipment outages that could affect air travel. Weather stations provide pilots and controllers with crucial data on wind direction and speed at airports to determine how to take off and land safely, among other parameters.
Reported by CNN
