Amid bipartisan concern, NOAA nominee pledges to make Weather Service staffing a ‘top priority’
by Rachel Frazin - 07/09/25 4:54 PM ET
As lawmakers from both parties raised concerns about staffing at the National Weather Service (NWS), President Trump’s pick to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) promised Wednesday to make the matter a “top priority.”
Neil Jacobs, who led the agency in an acting capacity during the last Trump administration, said, “If confirmed, I will ensure that staffing the Weather Service offices is a top priority. It’s really important for the people to be there because they have relationships with the people in the local community.”
The matter was particularly top-of-mind in the wake of last week’s floods in Texas that killed more than 100 people.
Questions were particularly raised in light of across-the-board layoffs and buyouts conducted by the Trump administration in order to reduce the size of the government.
After those layoffs, the administration has sought to shuffle staffers or hire more people as some Weather Service offices were deemed “critically understaffed.”
One employee who took a Trump administration buyout was the warning coordination meteorologist in the Austin/San Antonio office of the NWS, a job that includes making sure the public is aware of the forecasts.
Jacobs heard concerns about Weather Service staffing from several lawmakers during his confirmation hearing.
Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) said that an office in his state was “short” meteorologists because there had been a hiring freeze. Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) lamented that at the Weather Service “a decision was made to close overnight service in Cheyenne and route evening coverage” through a town hundreds of miles away called Riverton.
more
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5393082-trump-noaa-nominee-weather-service-staffing-nws-texas-flooding-climate-change/
