>>509647578
Significant staffing cuts were made to the NWS and NOAA, as part of the DOGE initiative. These cuts included the layoffs of approximately 600 NWS employees by spring 2025, reducing the workforce from around 4,000. Additionally, key positions, such as warning coordination meteorologists and senior hydrologists, were left vacant at critical offices like those in San Angelo and Austin/San Antonio, which were responsible for forecasting in the areas hit by the catastrophic Texas floods in July 2025.
These staffing reductions led to operational changes, including the scaling back of weather balloon launches, which provide essential data on temperature, humidity, and wind conditions. Some NWS offices reduced balloon launches to once per day or suspended them entirely due to staffing shortages, with reports indicating that only about 70 of the 91 launch sites were consistently operational during peak tornado season in May 2025. A weather balloon launched over Texas on July 3, 2025, did provide data indicating a saturated atmosphere and slow-moving winds, which helped inform flood forecasts, but the overall reduction in launches likely limited the granularity of data available.
7/6/2025, 12:10:18 PM
No.509645954
>>509646106
>>509646114
>>509646278
>>509646638
>>509646905
>>509647578
>>509648826
