is the national weather service ready for hurricane season?

Almost all federal agencies have been impacted by staff reductions. The National Weather Service (NWS) has not been exempted from those reductions. See this CNN story, US weather forecasting is more crippled than previously known as hurricane season near

They highlight two specific types of personnel reductions. One for the management of NWS offices and then also the reductions in the number of technicians that can repair doppler radar. There is no doubt that cuts to the forecasting staff will cause a decrease in capabilities and likely a reduction in the number of offices across the country. Remember, those are staffed 24/7 and if you want one full time position in place at all times, it will take a minimum of five people or more to maintain that staffing level.

The technician shortage can be even more impactful. Equipment needs to be maintained and when it fails, repaired. Without the forecasting tools, forecasters can be flying blind and the accuracy and timeliness of warnings significantly impacted.

Unless there of are whistleblowers that come out in the future, we’ll never know the full impacts of these reductions. You cannot expect the current administration to highlight the negative aspects for their actions.

As an example, I spoke with a Social Security Administration employee this past week. He averages being assigned about 40 cases per day and he can clear about 20 of those off the docket, thus the backlog continues to mount every day because of staff reductions that have already been implemented at the agency.