Hurricane season begins June 1, but the National Weather Service face serious staffing challenges. Since the start of President Trump’s second term, nearly 1000 employees have left, leaving key offices in cities like Lake Charles, Houston, and Tampa understaffed. LSU Public Health Climatologist Barry Keim warns that this could delay critical weather alerts or spread inaccurate information.
“There’s already some suggestion that the forecasting is not as good as it was just several weeks ago. Just because of all the budget cuts and the lack of data that’s going into inform those models.”
Keim warns that reduced staffing threatens accurate forecasting and the delivery of essential data. This could result in less accurate hurricane forecasts and increased danger for Americans.
“There’s a whole host of issues that just seem to be piling up. It’s really a shame as to the situation we find ourselves in right now, given all these budget cuts.”
Impacts could also affect sectors like transportation, energy, and even national defense, as military operations rely on timely weather data. Keim says with these staffing issues, there will likely be a serious decline in innovations with products like the cone of uncertainty and predict rapid intensification in research labs…
“And with these hits particularly hard, that innovation is getting slowed down or even ceases until things get turned around.”
Despite these concerns, the Trump administration continues its push to cut non-discretionary government spending.
