Trump Wants to Fire 248 Weather Forecasters

If Donald Trump gets his way, it's going to be a bit harder for TV weather folks that rely on the National Weather Service to do their jobs. 

In Trump's proposed budget plans, it would cut hundreds of jobs from the National Weather Service, including forecasters, after one of the worst hurricane seasons on record.

The Trump administration budget proposal would slash the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration by more than $1 billion next year, forcing the agency to cut about 8 percent of jobs.

The weather service, part of NOAA, would lose 355 jobs, including 248 forecasting positions.

HuffPo writes that weather forecasters are alarmed.

Dan Sobien, president of the weather service labor union, warned that the plan had sapped morale.

“We can’t take any more cuts and still do the job that the American public needs us to do,” Sobien told The Washington Post. “There simply will not be the staff available on duty to issue the forecasts and warnings upon which the country depends.”

Other proposed cuts at the NWS include $11 million slashed from the tsunami warning program, and a $15.5 million reduction to ocean surface and marine observation programs.

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