The Trump administration is planning to undo most of the cuts to the National Weather Service put in place earlier this year by the Department of Government Efficiency.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has received permission to fill 450 positions at the National Weather Service, roles that will include meteorologists, hydrologists and radar technicians, according to Reps. Eric Sorensen, D-Ill., and Mike Flood, R-Neb.
The move to rehire for those positions, which was first reported by CNN, comes after a summer of deadly, extreme weather that put cuts to NWS under particular scrutiny, with many politicians in both parties pushing to undo the cuts.
One government official told NBC News that NWS staff believe the Texas floods that killed more than 130 people and sparked questions about NWS forecasts strengthened the case for the agency to rehire hundreds of “front-line and mission critical” staff. This official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss personnel matters.
Sorensen and Flood celebrated the “overdue news” in a joint statement. The two co-sponsored the Weather Workforce Improvement Act to protect National Weather Service employees from layoffs and early retirements by reclassifying them as critical to public safety. The bill has been introduced in the House but yet to receive a vote.
“For months, Congressman Flood and I have been fighting to get NOAA and NWS employees the support they need in the face of cuts to staff and funding,” Sorensen said in a news release. “Hundreds of unfilled positions have caused NWS offices across the country to cancel weather balloon launches, forgo overnight staffing, and force remaining meteorologists to overwork themselves. While I welcome this overdue news to hire more meteorologists, we need to pass our bipartisan bill to ensure these new hires are permanent and protected from any future cuts.”
Rep. Mark Alford, R-Mo., also welcomed the move.
A spokesperson for the National Weather Service declined to comment.
A NOAA official who was not authorized to speak publicly told NBC News that it will likely take months to fill the hundreds of vacant positions. Currently, usajobs.gov lists nine open positions across NOAA, the parent agency of the National Weather Service.
NOAA and the NWS were not immune to the aggressive DOGE cuts of the second Trump administration’s early months, which included the firing, rehiring and refiring of some workers. The Commerce Department and NOAA fired more than 600 probationary employees at the agency alone on Feb. 27, including hurricane hunters, meteorologists and storm modelers.
Five former directors of the National Weather Service warned that staff shortages could lead to “needless loss of life.”
