US efforts to predict weather hit by staffing cuts: ex-NOAA chief

Yahoo

3 days ago

STORY: :: A former NOAA chief says the U.S. has compromised its ability to predict the weather after deep staffing cuts
:: July 5, 2025
:: Falls Church, Virginia
:: Rick Spinrad, Former administrator, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
"A lot of the weather forecast offices now are not operating at full complement of staff, which means that you're really putting an extra burden on these folks. I don't know how much that was a factor in what happened in Texas this weekend."
:: Kerrville, Texas
"Without research, without staff to do the work, we can assume that the predictions, and not just hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, drought, wildfires, tsunamis, for that matter, are undoubtedly going to degrade. And that means that people's ability to prepare for these storms will be compromised..."
::Georgetown, Texas
::Adam Grumbo
"Pick your favorite football team... now imagine that team has, instead of 11 players, has eight players. They're going to lose no matter how good they are. They can't do the job of the full team. And that's what's happening at NOAA is these are outstanding scientists, wonderful technicians, terrific policy folks, but if we don't have enough of them doing the job, then something falls off the table."
The Trump administration has axed thousands of jobs from NOAA, the National Weather Service's parent agency, leaving many weather offices understaffed, according to Spinrad.
He said he did not know if those staff cuts factored into the lack of advance warning for the extreme Texas flooding, but said they would inevitably degrade the agency's ability to deliver accurate and timely forecasts.