#NOAA fires about 800 employees, with more possible Friday
"The terminations are a blow to an agency that has been understaffed for years, even as the #climate crisis accelerates and #ExtremeWeather becomes more frequent.
#NationalWeatherService employees are protected by a workers’ union, which was trying Thursday night to contact affected employees."
https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/27/politics/noaa-federal-workers-firings/index.html
We will start seeing tallies of things negatively impacted by these layoffs, and the lists will grow long.
"An enormous self-inflicted wound"
This is NOT about saving money.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/01/weather/noaa-weather-forecast-layoffs/index.html
#NOAA
Reminder: "probationary employees" include people who have recently been promoted. Some have many years of experience. That will be lost.
"[NOAA] has also canceled a lease for a building housing the National Centers for Environmental Prediction in Maryland, which produces information for the #NationalWeatherService, Air Force, Navy, and Federal Aviation Administration.
#Project2025, the right-wing manifesto for the second Trump administration, said #NOAA “should be dismantled and many of its functions eliminated, sent to other agencies, privatized, or placed under the control of states and territories.” "
https://www.theverge.com/news/622990/trump-doge-government-layoffs-doge-weather-forecasts-noaa
Statement of the American Meteorological Society
TL;DR
"If you destroy NOAA, where do you think Weather dot com or Accuweather will get their data from, hmmm?"
Oh wait, WAIT.
You're not fired after all, please come back, oh no your desk is gone and we've also sold your building, oh well, it's up to your agency how to deal with it.
They're chaos agents.
https://www.npr.org/2025/03/04/nx-s1-5318039/fired-federal-employees-opm-memo
When formerly obscure agencies and departments get attacked, that's when we learn about their quiet but crucial work.
Here is a litany of essential tasks done quietly and expertly by #NOAA, from managing fisheries and endangered marine life, to the National Weather Service providing services that farmers, air traffic controllers, utility workers, and many more, can't do without.
https://www.nrdc.org/stories/we-need-noaa-now-more-ever
These people save lives every day.
"#NOAA is now preparing to lose more than 1,000 additional workers in a second round of firings. The agency could ultimately lose about 20% of its staff.
Swain told CBS News he believes the situation could quickly devolve into a public safety threat."
"In addition to information about global temperatures on land and in the oceans, the briefings include seasonal weather forecasts for the US and information on droughts.
In past briefings, researchers have openly discussed the role of human-caused climate change in driving record-high temperatures. But during last month’s call #NOAA researchers avoided making any mention of #ClimateChange when discussing record-high global temperatures in January."
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2472278-noaa-cancels-monthly-climate-and-weather-update-calls/
Fired workers are reinstated at NOAA, creating confusion on the heels of severe storms
The agency had already halted several services because of staffing issues following the cuts, including some weather balloon launches. It is not clear whether those will resume.
https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/noaa-fired-workers-reinstated-weather-storms-rcna197004
