December 10, 2025

Winter is coming. Not all weather offices are ready.

Washington Post -  As snow blankets a broadening swath of the United States and meteorological winter sets in, the National Weather Service remains constrained by a severe staffing shortage, despite a Trump administration commitment to refill hundreds of jobs cut by Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service.

The administration gave the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees the Weather Service, permission to post 450 critical roles — seeming to acknowledge that DOGE had gone too far in a push for cuts that resulted in some 550 firings, resignations and early retirements. Back in June, National Weather Service Director Ken Graham called the ability to rehire “fantastic news” that would enable “timely and accurate forecasts and warnings.”

But months later, offices in more than half a dozen states, from Maine to Wyoming, have vacancies, according to Tom Fahy, the legislative director for the National Weather Service Employees Organization (NWSEO), citing the latest figures tracked by the group. The unfilled roles include meteorologists, technical experts and scientists who work to deliver accurate forecasts and warnings to communities around-the-clock.

In some locations, nearly half of the meteorologist roles were left vacant.

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