National Weather Service Suspending Critical Weather Tool Sparks Concerns
March 8, 2025
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Meteorologists are warning that cancelled weather balloon launches due to National Weather Service (NWS) staffing shortages could seriously impact “critical” weather forecasting abilities.
Newsweek reached out for comment to the NWS via email on Friday evening.
Why It Matters
President Donald Trump has tasked Elon Musk and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with dramatically reducing government spending. Trump, Musk and DOGE have faced heavy criticism for a series of controversial cost-cutting measures and mass firings at multiple federal agencies.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which includes the NWS, has has been severely impacted by the cuts, with hundreds of employees recently losing their jobs and thousands more at risk. Some critical NOAA facilities are also set to be shuttered due to the activities of DOGE.
A sign marking National Weather Service offices is pictured outside Florida international University in Miami on May 24, 2010. A sign marking National Weather Service offices is pictured outside Florida international University in Miami on May 24, 2010. Joe Raedle/Getty Images
What To Know
A “public information statement” on the weather balloon launch suspensions was shared to the NWS website late on Friday afternoon. The statement announced that NWS was immediately “temporarily suspending some weather balloon launches in Albany, New York, and Gray, Maine, due to a lack of Weather Forecast Office (WFO) staffing.”
Several meteorologists shared the statement and expressed alarm at the development a short time later on X, formerly Twitter.
“Effective immediately, @NWSAlbany& @NWSGray are suspending some weather balloon launches due to staffing shortages,” wrote Pete Bouchard, chief meteorologist at NBC10 Boston. “Weather balloon launches sample the upper atmosphere & provide critical input to our weather models.”
Jeff Berardelli, the chief meteorologist at Tampa Bay NBC affiliate WFLA, suggested that the development indicated that weather forecasting abilities were moving “backwards.”
“Holy cow. Folks, one of the biggest reasons for forecast error is uncertain initial conditions due to lack of observations,” Berardelli wrote. “This is a huge setback for NOAA and weather forecasting overall because all models rely on this data. Do we want better or backwards?”
Cory Smith, a meteorologist for Spectrum News in Buffalo, New York, argued that news was evidence that the Trump administration’s cuts to the NWS was causing “local impacts.”
“Cuts to the NWS now having local impacts,” he wrote. “Weather balloons are temporarily no longer launching from Albany due to staffing shortages. They provide very important data for models, but are also EXTREMELY USEFUL during winter wx and severe weather to real-time forecast events.”
The weather balloon suspensions, which may or may not be the direct result of the DOGE cuts, were not the only incident to recently cause concern among weather forecasters.
A DOGE plan to cancel the lease on a facility that meteorologists call “the nerve center for the entire weather enterprise in the United States” just before tornado season also raised alarm bells this week.
What People Are Saying
Lori Arguelles, NOAA’s former director of strategic communication and partnerships, speaking about the impact of NOAA and NWS cuts in comments to Newsweek earlier on Friday: “Every single person that I know and have spoken directly with are so deeply concerned about the American people, because the mission matters. What these people at NOAA do is incredibly impactful and important.”
Democratic Congressman Jared Huffman, in a statement on the NOAA layoffs late last month: “People nationwide depend on NOAA for free, accurate forecasts, severe weather alerts, and emergency information. Purging the government of scientists, experts, and career civil servants and slashing fundamental programs will cost lives.”
What Happens Next
The Trump administration’s cuts to federal agencies, including NOAA and the NWS, are likely to continue. It is unclear when, or if, the cancelled NWS weather balloon launches will resume.
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