The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was hit with significant layoffs this week, with hundreds of employees terminated in another round of job cuts spearheaded by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under the Trump administration that has sparked backlash from many weather experts.

Newsweek contacted DOGE for comment on Friday.

Why It Matters

The newly created Department of Government Efficiency, headed by billionaire Elon Musk, aims to reduce federal spending and has already targeted numerous federal departments, including the Department of Education, Department of Defense and Environmental Protection Agency.

NOAA insiders, former officials and certain members of Congress have cautioned that the cuts may weaken the nation’s capacity to accurately predict severe weather.

What To Know

While the immediate impact the losses could have on research and safety is unclear, the job cuts, which are expected to affect at least 500 of NOAA’s roughly 12,000 employees, have sparked sharp criticism from the meteorological community, who argue that the cuts will severely impact critical weather forecasting.

NOAA, an agency under the Department of Commerce, is responsible for monitoring and predicting weather patterns, studying climate change, maintaining weather satellites and monitoring marine ecosystems.

It operates the National Weather Service, National Hurricane Center and several other services.

The job cuts affected multiple divisions, including the National Weather Service, National Marine Fisheries Service and the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, former NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad told Newsweek.

About 5 percent of the NOAA staff was let go, according to a Trump administration official, after a process that was designed to ensure NOAA’s statutory responsibilities weren’t compromised.

NWS meteorologists were “largely spared,” the official said.

A recent survey by polling firm YouGov found that the National Weather Service was among the government entities that Americans least wanted to see reduced or eliminated.

What People Are Saying

President Donald Trump, during a Cabinet meeting this week: “We’re cutting down the size of government—we have to.”

Meteorologist Jeff Masters told Newsweek: “This will likely result in increased loss of life and higher property damages. With damaging extreme weather events increasing, NWS staff should be growing to keep pace.”

Former NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad told Newsweek: “These terminations are consequential, and we will see an immediate impact on NOAA’s ability to deliver critical services to American individuals, corporations and communities.”

Meteorologist Eric Webb, on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday: “Idk if I’ve ever truly had a sinking feeling about a tornado/severe season like this year.

“Not just because we have a lot of the right ingredients in place for a season with a few really big outbreaks, but the lay offs & funding cuts to NOAA & NWS makes us waaayyyy more vulnerable to the truly “big one” than we have been in a long time.”

Robert Rohde, chief scientist at Berkeley Earth, on X: “NOAA owns, operates, or coordinates

“18 weather satellites

“92 twice-daily weather balloon launch sites

“159 weather radar systems

“9,000 weather monitoring stations

“Global & regional weather forecast models

“NOAA’s data and modeling underpins everything weather-related in the USA.”

What Happens Next

The Atlantic hurricane season begins on June 1.

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