After losing more than 560 employees to layoffs and early retirement incentives earlier this year, the National Weather Service has received permission to hire about 125 new meteorologists and specialists for its forecast offices around the country, sources tell CNN, as an active hurricane season looms.
The temporary lifting of the federal hiring freeze for the agency could reduce the number of weather forecast offices that must cut back on their hours or no longer staff the overnight shift during periods of non-threatening weather. About half a dozen forecast centers are in that predicament right now, including facilities in Goodland, Kansas, and Sacramento, California.
The news comes amid concerns that neither the NWS nor the Federal Emergency Management Agency is nearly as prepared for hurricane season as they have been in past years, and after a spate of deadly severe weather in the Midwest and South prompted speculation the staffing issues might have negatively affected tornado warning lead times.
The new hires would not make up for all the personnel lost in the Trump administration's cutbacks to the NWS and its parent organization, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. More offices are slated to transition to less-than-24/7 operations if additional staffing is not secured.
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The additional staff might allow the agency to boost the number of data-gathering weather balloon launches after a pronounced downturn due to the staffing shortage. Weather balloons are typically launched all over the world twice a day to provide crucial data for computer models used to help predict the weather, and fewer launches have sparked concern forecasts are being made less accurate.
The weather service is also still moving forward with a stopgap measure of transferring meteorologists from well-staffed offices to ones that are down multiple meteorologists, radar technicians and other specialists. NOAA announced last month it was seeking 155 transfers to fill these “critical” positions.
An NWS employee told CNN it is not yet clear if they will succeed in filling all the transfer positions, but they have received many applications. The new hiring will take place after the transfers are processed, the employee, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution, said.
The new hires may include technicians, hydrologists and physical scientists in addition to meteorologists, according to Tom Di Liberto, a former NOAA employee with knowledge of the situation.
The NWS is still seeking broader hiring authority under a public safety exemption, given the agency’s mission to protect lives and property. Such a step, which has support among some lawmakers on Capitol Hill, could allow for a more significant recovery in staffing levels.
Hurricane season officially began on Sunday.
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