New storm at weather service
Just in time for hurricane season, weather service proposes massive staff cuts.
New storm at weather service
To make up a $26 million budget deficit, the National Weather Service says it is considering forcing its entire 5,000 workforce to take 13 furlough days before the federal fiscal year ends on Sept. 30.
It's hard to know how much of this is budget brinkmanship, but the agency has weathered its share of troubles in recent months.
They include the threat of cuts to the technical staff; a financial brouhaha over the movement of funds, and the "retirement" of director Jack Hayes, announced late in the day on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend.
Scott Smullen, spokesman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, acknowleged today that the furloughs are under consideration.
In a statement, he said, "NOAA is committed to doing everything within its authority to avoid furloughs."
It is worth noting that the cuts would involve every office, including the National Hurricane Center during what is usually the peak hurricane period.
The weather-service union is not particularly happy about the proposal.
Said union president Dan Sobien, weather-service employees "are paying for the mistakes of the agency's leadership."
Let them go, nobody ever gets the weather right anyway.— jimmymack- Yes, and let's go back to the dark ages when we thought thunder happened because God was angry, and that rain was the tears of angels.— thegreengrass
- On what planet does "Spet. 30" occur?— Middle_Class
- @Middle_Class...Erf.— Cazptain Philadelphia
Comment removed.- Remenber sceince educshun is esentle if we are gonna compeat globaly.— manyhats
- "Marsian"? Seriously? And you're criticizing spelling?— clete1329
- ....wrong all the time and still have jobs. Must be nice.— ginbum
- Check the Farmer's Almanac if you want correct forecasts. Those oafs in the weather service couldn't predict hot weather in the middle of a drought!— erniebanks14
- We don't need these guys anyway. Aren't there enough "expert" meteorologists working on the local news to ensure that we can get "accurate" forecasts?— SomeRandomDude
- You mean to say that thunder isn't because God is angry? If you WANT A VERY CORRECT WEATHER FORECAST. THAT IS 100% go outside..— STEVE5444
Tony Wood has been writing about the atmosphere for The Inquirer for 26 years. E-mail Tony here. And read all his columns here.
