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yesterday

National Weather Service Approved to Hire 125 Staff to Shore Up Forecast Accuracy

Staffing losses of roughly 15 percent have prompted emergency hiring authority, with meteorologists warning that diminished resources could degrade hurricane predictions.

John Morales of NBC 6 South Florida (Credit: NBC/X)
An employee of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Hurricane Center (NHC) looks on during a news conference at the NHC in Miami, Florida, on May 30, 2025.
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Overview

  • The NWS lost about 560 employees through layoffs and early retirement incentives earlier this year, reducing its workforce by roughly 15 percent.
  • NOAA obtained a temporary exception to the federal hiring freeze, authorizing the addition of around 125 meteorologists, hydrologists and technical specialists.
  • The service is also reassigning staff internally and processing transfers to support forecast offices that have cut overnight shifts and reduced operations.
  • More than a dozen offices report vacancy rates exceeding 35 percent, prompting cutbacks in weather balloon launches that feed data into forecasting models.
  • With 13 to 19 named storms predicted for the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season, lawmakers including Sen. Maria Cantwell are urging broader exemptions to restore NWS capacity.