Gutted NOAA and National Weather Service
Trump fired 880 NOAA employees including hurricane modelers, proposed a 28% budget cut, ended Spanish weather alerts, and transferred hurricane-tracking satellites to the Pentagon. Weather forecasting capacity was severely degraded.
The Trump administration fired approximately 880 NOAA employees in February 2025 (7.3% of staff), including hurricane modelers, climate scientists, and El Nino/La Nina specialists. The National Weather Service lost close to 600 staff while 40% of forecast offices already faced significant vacancies.
The proposed FY2026 budget would cut NOAA by 28% and eliminate the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research along with all weather laboratories. Additional damage included:
- Spanish-language weather alerts were discontinued
- Several weather models were retired
- Three hurricane-tracking satellite systems were transferred to the Department of Defense
- The DOD then cut off imagery sharing with NOAA during hurricane season
- A weather balloon station in Alaska ceased operations due to staffing shortages
The teams responsible for improving hurricane forecast models — the same models that had successfully predicted the rapid intensification of recent deadly hurricanes — were among those decimated. Political appointees with ties to private weather companies stood to benefit from the privatization of weather forecasting.