Hundreds of weather forecasters and other U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration employees on probationary status were fired on Thursday, lawmakers and weather experts said.
Federal workers who were not let go said the afternoon layoffs included meteorologists who do crucial local forecasts in National Weather Service offices across the country.
Cuts at NOAA appeared to be happening in two rounds, one of 500 and one of 800, said Craig McLean, a former NOAA chief scientist who said he got the information from someone with first-hand knowledge. That’s about 10 per cent of NOAA’s workforce.
U.S. federal workers were ordered to justify their jobs this weekend by submitting five bullet points on their accomplishments from the past week or face termination. The initiative, spearheaded by Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team, has Republican backing, Democratic opposition and warnings of legal challenges ahead.
The first round of cuts were probationary employees, McLean said. There are about 375 probationary employees in the National Weather Service, where day-to-day forecasting and hazard warning is done.
The firings come amid efforts by billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency to shrink a federal workforce that President Donald Trump has called bloated and sloppy. Thousands of probationary employees across the government have already been fired.
Judge rules firings illegal
The NOAA firings came the same day a federal judge in San Francisco found that the mass firings of probationary employees were likely unlawful, granting temporary relief to a coalition of labour unions and organizations that has sued to stop the Trump administration’s massive dismantling of the federal workforce.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup ordered the Office of Personnel Management to inform certain federal agencies that it had no authority to order the firings of probationary employees, including at the Department of Defence.
Lawyers for the coalition cheered the order, although it does not mean that fired employees will automatically be rehired or that future firings will not occur.
The U.S. federal government purge led by Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has allegedly saved $55 billion largely through cutting jobs and contracts. Some government workers have resigned in protest over the restructuring moves and Musk’s access to sensitive data.
Public safety concerns over NOAA firings
With regard to the firings at NOAA, some politicians and scientists expressed concerns that they could endanger public safety.
Democratic Rep. Grace Meng released a statement saying: “Today, hundreds of employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), including weather forecasters at the National Weather Service (NWS), were given termination notices for no good reason. This is unconscionable.”
Meng added: “These are dedicated, hardworking Americans whose efforts help save lives and property from the devastating impacts of natural disasters across the country. This action will only endanger American lives going forward.”
Unelected, but empowered by U.S. President Donald Trump to cut government waste, the world’s richest man Elon Musk is facing growing resistance to his slashing of federal jobs and departments in what one Democratic senator called an ‘illegal power grab.’
Rep. Jared Huffman, a California Democrat who is the ranking minority member in the House natural resources committee, also said “hundreds of scientists and experts at NOAA” were let go.
Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, said on social media that the job cuts “are spectacularly short-sighted, and ultimately will deal a major self-inflicted wound to the public safety of Americans and the resiliency of the American economy to weather and climate-related disasters.”
