In case you haven’t heard about (or been able to keep up with) what’s been going on with the National Weather Service (NWS), we have a lot to unpack, so I’ll just jump right in:
What’s happened in the past two months:
On February 27, 880 employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) were laid off, representing about 7% of the agency’s total workforce, which had previously numbered around 12,000. These cuts were part of broader federal reductions initiated by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) during the Trump administration.
No staff members from the Houston/Galveston office of the National Weather Service (NWS) were affected by the layoffs. However, several hundred employees across NOAA chose to take a voluntary early retirement package. Among them was Jeff Evans, the Meteorologist-in-Charge at the Houston NWS office, who opted to retire under the program.
Evans said he: “Felt it was best for me to accept the offer after 34 years with the NWS. It has been an honor and a privilege to serve southeast Texas over the past 10.5 years. Since my arrival in the summer of 2014, I have made tremendous friendships and memories across the region, as we have worked through seemingly one ‘disaster’ after another.”
But that’s not all:
After Jeff Evans retired, Lance Wood stepped in to replace Evans at the office. Last week, Lance announced his own upcoming retirement, sharing the following note:
“I will be retiring from the National Weather Service on Wednesday, April 30th. I have enjoyed working with you! I am so grateful that I have been able to serve southeast Texas since 1998. Over the years, I’ve worked with many of you through numerous tropical cyclones, severe weather, and winter weather events, and I am proud of what we’ve accomplished together.”
Full disclosure: Lance is a personal friend. When I was writing my children’s book on the water cycle, I shared the final draft with him to ensure everything was meteorologically accurate.
What does this mean?
Wood went on to say, “With the current restricted staffing situation, we will not be able to support all of the outreach that we have normally been able to support. The office will continue to provide all public safety and event-driven support to our partners - the same level of support we have provided in the past.”
This means the NWS will still focus on its core mission, which is to save life and property. So, the warnings you get from TV or your phone will not be impacted, according to Wood.
What happens next?
To be completely honest with you, I’m not sure what the future holds. I think the real story will unfold over the next three, six, and 12 months.
Many people may not know this, but the National Weather Service was already under a hiring freeze, even before the recent layoffs. Offices across the country, including Houston, were operating short-staffed.
Evans and Wood are also not being replaced. For now, leadership support will come from a rotating group of Meteorologists-in-Charge from other field offices, along with staff from the Southern Region Headquarters. So while there will always be someone in charge locally, it won’t be the same person, and it won’t be the same as having a permanent leadership team on site.
I’m not sure what your work environment is like, but having a revolving door of bosses is strange, and honestly, it’s not the most efficient way to run an office tasked with protecting lives and property.
The hiring freeze is Houston’s biggest issue. Even before the cuts initiated by DOGE, the Houston office saw significant turnover: seven people retired at the end of 2023, followed by three more in early 2024. Then, as I mentioned earlier, Jeff Evans retired in February, and Lance Wood’s last day will be this Wednesday.
For context, a fully staffed Houston NWS office should have 24 people. As of May 1, there will be just 10 meteorologists instead of 16, no managers (down from four), and only one electronics technician left out of a team that used to have four.
The core mission of the NWS, protecting life and property, will continue. They will get the job done. However, there will be very little room for absences during severe weather events, and other important efforts like public outreach, educational initiatives, and planning meetings with media and emergency managers will likely see limited or no NWS presence for the time being.
Will there be more cuts at the Houston office? Probably not. The remaining staff is relatively young, which should help stabilize things, at least for now.
My concern for the Houston NWS Office:
Burnout!
The employees who stay behind are asked to do more with less, and it’s tough. But when your job is to issue timely weather warnings that protect lives, the burden becomes even heavier.
My biggest concern looking ahead is how the Houston office will handle multiple days of severe weather. Staff could be stretched too thin, not just during the storms, but before and after as well, leading to a higher risk of mistakes and serious burnout.
The Everything Weather Podcast recently highlighted how staff shortages have already affected some NWS offices, with a few cases of missed severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings. We’ll have to watch and see whether Houston experiences similar issues.
Coming Friday:
If you watched our Garden in the Gulf: A Reef Rescue Mission documentary, you may remember hearing about a firing on the NOAA dive team. Friday, we’ll dive deeper into the impact of that loss and how the absence of this team member could have far-reaching consequences for future research and conservation efforts in the Gulf.
