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National and local meteorologists express alarm as the Trump administration implements Project 2025’s scheme to dismantle NOAA

Mass firings at NOAA and the National Weather Service are already underway, with more cuts expected

Special Programs Climate & Energy

Written by Allison Fisher

Published

National and local meteorologists — who are among the most trusted media personalities — are taking to social media to warn about the risks to public safety as President Donald Trump begins gutting the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which operates the National Hurricane Center, two tsunami warning centers, the National Weather Service, and more. 

The warnings were prompted by February 27 reports that “the Commerce Department has laid off hundreds of NOAA employees, many with specialized skills who work at one of the world's top climate science and weather forecasting agencies.” 

Dismantling NOAA is part of the blueprint for the second Trump administration laid out by Project 2025, a comprehensive transition plan assembled by The Heritage Foundation and over 100 conservative partner organizations. Project 2025’s call to dismantle NOAA by eliminating or privatizing key functions of the agency is also the endgame of years of attempts by conservatives and right-wing media to attack the credibility of the agency and the veracity of the data it produces.

  • Dismantling NOAA is a goal of Project 2025 and the endgame of right-wing media’s long war on climate and temperature data

    • Project 2025’s attack on NOAA was penned by Thomas Gilman, a former Trump Commerce Department official who recommends that the agency “should be dismantled and many of its functions eliminated, sent to other agencies, privatized, or placed under the control of states and territories.” Among other recommendations for how NOAA “should be broken up and downsized,” Gilman’s chapter for Project 2025’s policy book calls for the National Weather Service to “fully commercialize its forecasting operations”; demands that research from the National Hurricane Center and the National Environmental Satellite Service be reviewed to ensure it is “presented neutrally, without adjustments intended to support any one side in the climate debate”; and suggests the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research “should be disbanded” as “the source of much of NOAA’s climate alarmism.” [Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, 2023]
    • Right-wing media laid the groundwork for dismantling NOAA. For decades, climate deniers working in right-wing media, government, and fossil fuel-funded think tanks have cast doubts on climate research and falsely suggested that NOAA’s temperature data has been altered to push climate change. And right-wing media have long attacked data that links increasing ocean temperatures — fueled by climate change — to increasingly intense hurricanes, suggesting those reporting the connection are politicizing scientific research or “weaponizing weather.” [Media Matters, 5/31/24]
    • Even before the mass firings at NOAA that began on February 27, climate scientists and media figures spoke out against conservative plans to dismantle the agency. Speaking to The Guardian last year, former NOAA official Andrew Rosenberg said the agency “basically reports the science as the scientific evidence accumulates and has been quite cautious about reporting climate effects,” adding, “It’s not pushing some agenda.” And meteorologist Chris Gloninger said Project 2025’s recommendations are “a sign that the far right has ‘no interest in climate truth.’” In 2024, Hurricane Helene also prompted media figures and climate experts to share concerns over Project 2025’s recommendation to downsize a key agency providing information on extreme weather and other disasters. [The Guardian, 4/26/24; Media Matters, 9/27/24]

  • National and local meteorologists warn of the impacts of cutting expertise at NOAA and the National Weather Service

  • Weather experts warn that cuts to NOAA and the NWS could have devastating impacts on weather forecasting. “Even before the layoffs, the Weather Service in particular was short-staffed, Axios reported. “While NOAA had pushed for public safety exemptions from the layoffs for NWS meteorologists, not all were granted. A congressional aide reported hearing that ‘some’ at NWS were spared but ‘not many.’” Axios also noted in a separate piece that some Weather Service and NOAA offices are already cutting back on their services, including weather balloon launches that “provide information on upper air conditions to fine-tune computer models that help predict the weather across the U.S.”

    • In a lengthy post on social media, NBC weather anchor Al Roker detailed the many functions that make NOAA and The National Weather Service vital agencies. In another post, Roker added, “Folks, NOAA/NWS is more than just forecasts. It’s fire weather. It’s severe weather outlooks. It’s climate. It’s information that our FARMERS use day in and day out making us the breadbasket of the world. This agency monitors our oceans, our fisheries health. It touches our lives in ways you cannot even imagine.” [Twitter/X, 2/27/25, 2/27/25]
    • ABC News chief meteorologist Ginger Zee said one of the fired NOAA employees “is one of the primary folks that improved the HAFS hurricane models (very helpful last year w/Milton & Helene).” “NOAA cuts happening now,” she posted. “An example: Andy worked for the Hurricane Research Division for years and is one of the primary folks that improved the HAFS hurricane models (very helpful last year w/Milton & Helene).” [Twitter/X, 2/27/25] 
    • Jeff Berardelli, chief meteorologist at WFLA-TV in Tampa Bay, Florida, posted that layoffs at NOAA “will have a big impact when it counts.” “Andy [Hazelton] is just one of countless NOAA meteorologists that I rely on, as a TV met, during hurricane season. Folks, forecasting extreme wx is a team effort & NOAA is the backbone. These mass layoffs will have a big impact when it counts. And it’s life changing for these fine folks.” [Twitter/X, 2/27/25]
    • Tyler Roney, meteorologist at Dakota News Now in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, posted that the National Weather Service is “crucial for life saving information” and it’s “a dark day.” “My heart breaks for those meteorologists that lost their jobs today at the National Weather Service,” he wrote. “It’s unfortunately a preview of things to come. The National Weather Service is already understaffed as it is. They’re crucial for life saving information. This is a dark day.” [Twitter/X, 2/27/25]
    • Cory Smith, meteorologist at Spectrum News in Buffalo, New York, posted that “nobody is going to benefit at all from this.” “Today plenty of talented and amazing meteorologists were laid off at NOAA and the National Weather Service,” he wrote. “This already understaffed part of the government is vital to getting the quality forecasts you receive. Nobody is going to benefit at all from this. End of story.” [Twitter/X, 2/27/25]
    • Tim Buckley, chief meteorologist at WFMY News 2 in Greensboro, North Carolina, posted that the NWS provides meteorologists their weather data and “nobody is a good weather forecaster without good data.” “Put in tv terms, when we show you current temps / winds / radar it’s from the NWS. When we cover tornado warnings, they come from NWS. Sure we make our own forecasts, but the US weather models are maintained by NOAA / NWS. Nobody is a good weather forecaster without good data.” [Twitter/X, 2/28/25]
    • Meteorologist Eric Webb posted that the cuts are “pushing us back in” the direction of “time when deadly surprises from Mother Nature were way more common.” “Most people take for granted the massive modern advancements in weather forecasting over the last several decades & certainly don’t remember a time when deadly surprises from Mother Nature were way more common,” he wrote. “These major funding and staffing cuts at NOAA & NWS are pushing us back in that direction I’m afraid & it will take us a long time to get back on the right track.” [Twitter/X, 2/27/25] 
    • In response to NWS’ suspension of weather balloon launches in Alaska, Chris Bianchi, meteorologist for KUSA - 9News in Denver, posted that it’s a “sad day for American and global meteorology.” “Reminder weather balloon data gets directly fed into computer models. Less balloons = less data = less forecast model accuracy. And, of course, fewer NWS meteorologists = fewer eyes on the weather. A sad day for American and global meteorology.” [Twitter/X, 2/27/25]
    • James Spann, meteorologist at WBMA-LD, Birmingham's ABC affiliate, noted two days before the cuts began that “most NWS field offices are currently understaffed. right now. I can only imagine morale is not especially high,” concluding, “If NWS products and services are reduced, we all suffer…especially during times of life-threatening weather.” [Twitter/X, 2/25/25]