NWS

[Rideback]

"The National Weather Service is currently experiencing significant staffing challenges across multiple regions. Alaska, Central, and Western regions are particularly strained, with vacancy rates exceeding 20% across these Regions, which is directly impacting critical weather forecasting services. Some offices have already stopped launching weather balloons or have reduced the number of launches per day to 1. This is just the start.
61 WFOs across various regions are critically understaffed (vacancy rates > 20%).
In the Alaska Region, Fairbanks (AFG) and the Alaska Aviation Weather Unit (AAWU) are at 46.2% and 30.0% vacancy rates, respectively. Across the Central Region, notable vacancy rates include Rapid City (UNR) – 41.7%, Goodland (GLD) – 40.9%, and Quad Cities (DVN) – 37.5%. Eastern Region notable vacancy levels include Portland, ME (GYX) – 26.1%, Albany (ALY) – 25.0%, and Columbia (CAE) – 25.0%. For Southern Region, total vacancy percentages include Little Rock (LZK) – 36.0% Houston/Galveston (HGX) – 30.4%, Nashville (OHX) – 30.4%. Finally, Western Region highest vacancy percentages include Hanford (HNX) – 40.9%,, Pendleton (PDT) – 37.5%, and Sacramento (STO) – 34.5%.
Look at these unbelievable stats of *management* vacancies in some of the Regions too...
Eastern Region
MIC: 4 out of 23 positions vacant (17.4%)
SOO: 1 out of 23 positions vacant (4.3%)
WCM: 2 out of 23 positions vacant (8.7%)
Southern Region
MIC: 5 out of 32 positions vacant (15.6%)
SOO: 3 out of 32 positions vacant (9.4%)
WCM: 5 out of 32 positions vacant (15.6%)
Central Region
MIC: 11 out of 38 positions vacant (28.9%)
SOO: 3 out of 38 positions vacant (7.9%)
WCM: 5 out of 38 positions vacant (13.2%)
Western Region
MIC: 3 out of 24 positions vacant (12.5%)
SOO: 2 out of 24 positions vacant (8.3%)
WCM: 4 out of 24 positions vacant (16.7%)
This is only going to get worse in the coming months as employees opt for early retirement and/or more RIFs trickle down. I haven't even touched the National Centers or other areas in the NWS or NOAA. More on that sometime.
Maybe its time to shut down all the balloons, models, radars, and warnings so folks begin to understand the ramifications of these losses.
I'll leave you with this. The NWS has historically hovered around 10% vacancy rates as an agency for the last decade. We are now sitting close to 20% vacancy across the agency with numbers climbing weekly (see my chart below). We will easily be into the >25% vacancy rate across the agency by summer IMO.
I'm happy to report that Tom Skilling will again be pressing this issue with a story on the WGN news at 9p tomorrow (Tuesday) April 1st (and no, this is NOT April fools, especially on a day when significant severe weather is expected across a good chunk of real estate in the central U.S.).
We are a stronger, better, more safe Nation when we have a fully-staffed National Weather Service that is dedicated to the mission of saving lives and protecting property."