Trump officials fire 800 employees at weather forecasting and oceans agency
The Trump administration has its government-shrinking sights set on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, where around 800 employees have been tapped for termination, according to two sources close to the agency.
More layoffs are possible Friday, one of the sources said, potentially costing the weather, climate and environmental agency more than a thousand employees by the end of the week.
Most divisions of the agency, which employs scientists and specialists in weather, oceans, biodiversity, climate and other research and planetary monitoring fields, were affected.
Probationary employees — those who have been in their jobs for a year or less, in most cases — were fired Thursday, a person inside the National Weather Service told CNN. There are between 350 and 375 employees with that status at the weather service, though it’s not clear how many of those were impacted; the person has heard there were some exemptions given to critical positions — likely life-threatening disaster forecasting roles, including hurricanes and severe thunderstorms.
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National Weather Service employees are protected by a workers’ union, which was trying Thursday night to contact affected employees. Some employees who were fired said on social media that they were going to explore their legal options.
The people who were charged with conducting the terminations seemed to have acted in a way that would minimize paper trails, a source close to NOAA said, making it difficult for others at the agency to know who was affected and leaving news of the firings to spread by word of mouth.
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The terminated NOAA workers’ letters said, “The Agency finds you are not fit for continued employment because your ability, knowledge and/or skills do not fit the Agency’s current needs.”
Many probationary workers at some federal agencies who were laid off earlier this month received letters that also said they were being let go because their performance has not been adequate to justify further employment – regardless of whether they had good reviews.
The National Weather Service’s mission is to “protect lives and property.”
The terminations are a blow to an agency that has been understaffed for years, even as the climate crisis accelerates and extreme weather becomes more frequent. Critics of the administration’s plan to slash the agency — a directive that was outlined in Project 2025 — have said layoffs would further cripple America’s ability to accurately forecast hurricanes, tornadoes and other costly, deadly extreme weather.
Meteorologists and computer engineers across NOAA were impacted, including at the Hurricane Research Division, where employees work to increase the accuracy of hurricane forecasts. Andrew Hazelton, a researcher with a PhD in meteorology, was one of the employees terminated Thursday, he said on social media. His role was to evaluate hurricane forecasts and improve the physics in the models that the National hurricane Center uses to track the storms.
“I enjoy meteorology because weather affects everyone, and there’s always so much to learn,” Hazelton is quoted as saying in his NOAA bio. “Growing up in Florida, I experienced several hurricanes, and it thrills me to be able to study and analyze them in my career.”
Other departments in which roles were terminated include the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, and the division that develops and improves the United States’ weather models.
Zachary Labe was one such modeler that was terminated.
“My job was to strengthen NOAA’s use of machine learning and AI for subseasonal-to-decadal weather and climate prediction,” Labe said on X.
CNN’s Sunlen Serfaty contributed to this report.
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800 federal workers fired at NOAA, which impacts weather forecasts, Great Lakes science
Members of the federal agency that informs local weather forecasts, makes air travel safer and helps prepare for natural disasters were fired on Friday morning, the latest casualties in the Trump administration’s efforts to dramatically reduce the government workforce.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — or NOAA — which falls under the U.S. Department of Commerce, keeps track of the sky, oceans, atmosphere and fisheries. It’s a small agency with about 12,000 employees, but its work touches, and benefits, everyone, even though they may not realize it.
Around 800 staff were let go on Thursday, with more likely on Friday, according to CNN. Deep cuts could slow long-term weather and climate monitoring, leave Americans with less time to prepare for extreme weather natural disasters and put cultural resources and biodiversity at risk.
Here’s what to know about NOAA and how it affects people who live in the Great Lakes.
More than half of the agency’s staff are scientists and engineers, many of whom research and monitor data that inform weather forecasts. The agency tracks geomagnetic storms that interfere with telecommunications and power grids.
The Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, based in Michigan, is a research hub for the world’s largest surface freshwater system. Scientists at the laboratory research and monitor ice cover, lake levels, harmful algae blooms and invasive species.
The lab also provides cutting edge modeling on dangerous lake-effect snowstorms and operates a Lake Michigan field station in Muskegon, Michigan.
More:New data shows winters in Great Lakes region shrinking by two or more weeks since 1995
The federal agency is responsible for managing U.S. fisheries, which includes preventing overfishing, rebuilding stocks and ensuring a sustainable seafood supply.
NOAA also supports commerce, including extensive navigation and mapping work for shipping.
More:Scientists just discovered cold, dark sinkholes in Lake Michigan. What’s living in them?
The federal agency has played a key role in making air travel safer and reducing fatalities from natural disasters in the U.S.
It has launched satellites into space, deployed scientific ships across the oceans and Great Lakes, and sent aircraft into hurricanes. Through decades of weather and climate monitoring, NOAA has developed exceptional forecasting capabilities, which continue to improve as scientists collect more data.
One part of the agency even tracks how much natural disasters cost the U.S., which continues to climb each year.
As climate change worsens flood events, hurricanes, wildfires and other natural disasters, a lack of investment in weather and climate monitoring could leave Americans with less time to prepare for and respond to these events.
More:Are Lake Erie’s algae blooms home to the next pharmaceutical drug? Some scientists think so.
NOAA manages the country’s National Marine Sanctuary System, protecting 629,000 square miles of the oceans and Great Lakes. The network includes 18 marine sanctuaries, and two underwater national monuments.
Marine sanctuary designations protect culturally important sites, like shipwrecks, and areas of high biodiversity.
There are three national marine sanctuaries in the Great Lakes: Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary in Lake Huron; Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary in Lake Michigan; and Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary, the newest in the lakes. A site has also been proposed in Lake Erie.
The designation also helps support conservation and science efforts, which is very much needed in the Great Lakes, where less than 15% of the lakebeds have been mapped. In fact, Wisconsin’s shipwreck sanctuary is one of the most well-understood places in all of Lake Michigan.
More:We know more about the surface of Mars than about the floor of Lake Michigan. But what we do know is remarkable.
Caitlin Looby is a Report for America corps member who writes about the environment and the Great Lakes. Reach her atclooby@gannett.com, follow her on X@caitlooby and learn more about how she approaches her reporting.
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