DOGE Cuts at NOAA, Explained

The NWS no longer covers the entire U.S. 24/7.

Roger Pielke Jr., a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a sharp critic of NOAA’s now-terminated database on billion-dollar weather disasters, told CBS News, “I’m a huge fan of NOAA and the National Weather Service. They play a huge public service role, and I’m not happy with the sledgehammer that is being taken to the agency.”

To buttress hurricane preparedness, [Mike Smith, a noted meteorologist] would immediately rehire the experienced employees who were terminated by DOGE and provide the funds and other resources needed to conduct NOAA’s hurricane reconnaissance flights.

As for NOAA’s attempts to re-staff its Gulf Coast offices, Smith is less optimistic. Given NOAA’s slow hiring pace, he is concerned that it can’t move quickly enough to make a difference for this year’s hurricane season.