Here’s the latest on the National Weather Service (NWS) and NOAA staffing and system status as of July 5, 2025:
Staffing Cuts and Firings:
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The National Weather Service lost over 560 employees earlier this year due to layoffs and early retirement incentives. Nearly 600 employees either left or were fired recently. This includes dismissals, retirements, and incentive departures out of about 4,800 NWS staff. The agency is now trying to hire around 125 new meteorologists to stabilize operations after these massive cuts. So far, the workforce is significantly reduced, impacting service capacity CNN, NY Times, USA Today.
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NOAA as a whole fired around 800 probationary employees in February, and the agency is planning to reduce its workforce by about 17% next year. Over 1,000 NOAA employees have left since early 2025. These cuts have hit specialized staff and are causing operational strain Federal News Network, NY Times.
Radar and Satellite System Degradation or Unavailability:
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Several NOAA and NWS radar systems are reported as degraded, with some transmitters operational but experiencing reduced service quality such as coverage and audio issues. Staffing cuts have weakened forecasting abilities, including fewer weather balloon launches, which are critical for accurate models. There have been reports of delays and degraded capability in disseminating weather alerts, including to NOAA Weather Radio NOAA Weather Radio Outages, NBC News.
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Regarding satellites, NOAA ended delivery of data from the POES constellation (NOAA-15, NOAA-18, NOAA-19) as of June 16, 2025. Additionally, the U.S. Department of Defense stopped providing satellite weather data crucial for hurricane forecasting, which has raised concerns about forecast accuracy for the 2025 hurricane season. NOAA announced permanent cessation of importing and distributing data from some satellites, which impacts overall satellite data availability NY Times, NPR, NOAA OSPO.
In summary: Over 1,000 NOAA employees and about 560+ National Weather Service employees have been laid off or left in 2025. These cuts have degraded radar and weather balloon operations and led to reduced satellite data availability, particularly with key polar-orbiting satellites and defense satellite data no longer provided to NOAA. This all has significantly impacted NOAA and NWS’s ability to provide top-tier weather forecasting and warnings this year.