Cuts Impact TV Mets

With Elon Musk swinging the ax through government agencies, it is impacting local TV stations.

More than 800 NOAA employees were laid off in late February, including National Weather Service meteorologists. A day later, 500 more took a deferred resignation offer. Last week, NOAA reportedly began preparing to lay off another 1,000 employees, or 10% of the agency’s staff.

Poynter writes that the cuts concern broadcast meteorologists who say that NOAA produces valuable and life-saving information, which they then deliver to viewers.

“When I do my daily forecasting, I look at all the suites of models, the satellites, the radar imagery. All those types of things are maintained by NOAA,” said CBS News New York meteorologist Tony Sadiku.

Asked how much of the data she relies on for her forecasts comes from NOAA, KQ2 meteorologist Vanessa Alonso said, “Almost all of it.”

For example, NOAA takes weather balloon measurements twice a day that allow meteorologists to profile a wide swath of the atmosphere instead of relying on ground-level observations. That atmospheric data helps meteorologists understand upper-level patterns, which can influence long-term forecasts. 

The cuts at NOAA have already started disrupting some of the agency’s data-collecting functions. The agency has had to temporarily suspend weather balloon launches in parts of Alaska, New York and Maine due to staffing shortages. 

“NOAA and the National Weather Service — they are the backbone of meteorology for the entire country,” said Ryan Phillips, a meteorologist for WTVJ and an instructor at the University of Miami.

Read the full story at Poynter