NOAA Faces Severe Cuts as Hundreds of Employees Laid Off

Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency slashes funding and staff, prompting warnings about risks to weather forecasting and public safety.

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk, has cut over 880 jobs at NOAA, impacting more than 7% of its workforce.
Key NOAA facilities, including the Center for Weather and Climate Prediction in Maryland, are at risk of closure, jeopardizing critical weather modeling operations.
Meteorologist Jim Cantore warns that the cuts could degrade the quality of weather forecasts, endangering public safety during severe weather events like tornadoes and hurricanes.
Critics, including scientists and lawmakers, argue that the cuts undermine NOAA’s essential role in disaster preparedness, climate monitoring, and marine conservation.
Some experts link NOAA’s challenges to long-standing issues with data transparency and accusations of politicization, which have drawn scrutiny from both sides of the climate debate.