An aerial view of severe flooding in Frankfort, Kentucky, caused by days of heavy rainfall on April 7, 2025. Violent storms battering the central-eastern United States killed at least 17 people. The storms came as the National Weather Service was grappling with nearly 600 job cuts by the Trump administration. Now, the NWS has been given authorization to rehire more than 100 forecasters, radar technicians and others.
Leandro Lozada/AFP via Getty Images
hide caption
toggle caption
Leandro Lozada/AFP via Getty Images
MIAMI — Following public outcry and concern, the National Weather Service is initiating the process of hiring over 100 employees to “stabilize operations” at its field offices nationwide.
After the cuts mandated by the Trump administration earlier this year, the weather service suffered a loss of nearly 600 positions.
Erica Grow Cei, a spokesperson for the National Weather Service, states that the new hires will be placed in field offices with the “most significant operational need.”
Tom Fahy, legislative director for the union representing NWS employees, reveals that 126 new positions will be filled.
“The positions include meteorologist, hydrologist, physical scientist, and electronic technicians,” he explains. Electronic technicians play a crucial role in maintaining and repairing weather radar installations and other sensitive equipment. “Radar is a vital component of our national weather infrastructure,” Fahy emphasizes, “to safeguard the American people from severe weather and hazardous storms.
Following the job cuts, some field offices were no longer operational 24/7. Some offices also reduced weather balloon launches, essential tools for gathering data required for local and national forecasts, according to the National Weather Service.
Mary Glackin, a former undersecretary at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the NWS’ parent agency, remarks that the weather service has been temporarily assigning employees to field offices across the nation to address staff shortages.
She acknowledges that the announcement of the new hires signifies an acknowledgment by the administration that the job cuts were excessive. “We’re in the midst of a severe weather season, and I know that’s placed a considerable strain on the system,” she notes, highlighting that it’s also the start of the Atlantic hurricane season. “It’s not an ideal time to be understaffed.”
Cei reveals that the Trump administration granted the weather service an exemption to a government-wide hiring freeze, and it will commence advertising for “permanent, mission-critical field positions.”
Glackin predicts, based on her experience, that filling positions at NOAA can take several months. She anticipates that it will be September at the earliest before many of the positions are filled. She also points out that after the cuts earlier this year, NWS is lacking several hundred positions. She remarks, “This is essentially a temporary fix for a significant issue.”
Fahy anticipates that many of the approximately 100 probationary NWS employees terminated in the Trump administration job cuts may reapply for the positions, some of which they may have already been trained and certified for.
