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Elon Musk is coming for our weather service
The weather forecasts you see on TV or the severe storm alerts you get from your apps are powered by a federal science agency that’s in line for some of the most drastic cuts proposed by the Trump administration so far. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) employs about 12,000 staffers around the world, […]
The weather forecasts you see on TV or the severe storm alerts you get from your apps are powered by a federal science agency that’s in line for some of the most drastic cuts proposed by the Trump administration so far.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) employs about 12,000 staffers around the world, more than half of which are scientists and engineers. NOAA operates 18 satellites and 15 ships and has a budget of $6.8 billion. Their job is to study the skies, the seas, the fish, tracking how they’re changing and predicting what will happen to them. NOAA’s work is essential for aviation, fishing, climate research, and offshore oil and gas exploration, particularly when it comes to modeling weather.
“You and your family and friends depend upon NOAA people even if you are unaware of what they do,” Jane Lubchenco, who led NOAA under President Obama, wrote to Vox in an email.
Staffers from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have been targeting probationary employees for job cuts across the federal government. There are around 216,000 workers with this status, close to 10 percent of the total federal workforce. Thousands of workers have already been fired across the federal government already across divisions like the National Park Service and the Department of Energy. About 75,000 staffers accepted deferred resignation offers.
But the potential cuts at NOAA go beyond that. CBS News reported that NOAA employees were told to prepare for staffing to halve and for budgets to shrink by 30 percent. One source inside the agency who asked to remain anonymous as they were not authorized to speak to the press told Vox that some weather offices at NOAA would be eliminated entirely.
“There’s going to be some interruptions and declines in the quality of service because we’ll have offices that are understaffed. That’s a big risk for the weather service,” said Timothy Gallaudet, who served as acting administrator for NOAA during President Donald Trump’s first term. “Our weather satellites, they’re vital for public safety, and any interruption to their maintenance and operation could be a problem too.”
Though it performs valuable jobs, NOAA is at the intersection of the broader push to shrink the government, an ideological fight over climate change, and possibly a personal grievance with the president himself.
The cuts could have far-reaching consequences for the US economy and the safety of Americans as extreme weather lands on increasingly populated areas. “NOAA does great things that are affecting every American, every day, in a positive way,” Gallaudet said. With the drastic cuts some in the Trump administration want at the agency, “everything would slow down and potentially stop.”
Why the main climate and weather agency is in line for deep cuts
While NASA looks out to the stars, NOAA keeps an eye on here on Earth. But unlike NASA, NOAA is not a stand-alone agency. It’s under the umbrella of the Department of Commerce, currently led by Howard Lutnick, former CEO of financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, who was confirmed on February 18.
The Commerce Department’s mission is to facilitate trade and economic growth in the US, so it may seem odd that it runs a science agency, particularly one that accounts for 60 percent of its budget. However, historically NOAA’s research was performed with commerce in mind, particularly the fishing industry and maritime trade. Even today, NOAA’s work mapping the sea floor and ocean currents in real time around ports ensures safe travels for shipping, which contributes $5.4 trillion to the US economy each year. The agency’s management of fisheries supports the nearly $10 billion fishing sector. NOAA’s forecasting work through the National Weather Service is essential for farmers, event planners, and for generating life-saving alerts ahead of extreme weather events. NOAA also conducts basic science research around climate change.
These functions have drawn the ire of some within the Trump administration. Project 2025, the conservative policy agenda produced by the Heritage Foundation, specifically calls for climate change to be systematically removed from government policymaking. In Project 2025 training videos obtained by ProPublica, an official from Trump’s first term says a future conservative president “will have to eradicate climate change references from absolutely everywhere.”
