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After losing hundreds of employees to budget cuts and layoffs implemented by the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency, the National Weather Service announced plans Tuesday to hire 126 workers to permanent positions while transferring existing employees to some of the neediest offices in the U.S., which records show include at least one in ¶¶Òõh. 

The move comes after the administration made  to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, leaving nearly half the NWS's 122 local field offices with vacancy rates of more than 20% by early April, according to  Some offices were so short-staffed they were forced to cut down on weather balloon launches and overnight staffing, leading meteorologists and researchers across the county to voice concerns about the nation's weather forecasting capabilities, particularly during natural disasters and the current hurricane season, which is 

NWS spokesperson Erica Grow Cei said the eligible positions include jobs that were "deemed critical to fulfill the NWS's mission of saving lives, protecting property and enhancing the national economy." But she did not specify what positions would be filled or where they were located. 

Grow Cei said advertisements for the open jobs will be posted soon. 

The weather service is also in the process of issuing reassignment opportunity notices and short-term temporary duty assignments to fill vacant positions at offices across the country with "the greatest needs," Grow Cei said. Both enable current employees to voluntarily transfer to lateral positions in offices across the U.S. without a formal hiring process. 

The new hires are allowed under an exemption to President Donald Trump's governmentwide hiring freeze, and was granted to "stabilize frontline operations," she said.

¶¶Òõh State Climatologist Jay Grymes said the new hires represent only about a fifth of the positions lost, and that the process could take weeks or months. He also said the Trump administration's cuts go "beyond people," including reductions in climate research and satellite system funding. 

"Not all climate research is fossil-fuel focused," he said. "Long-range tropical outlooks like pre-season forecasts, for example, are largely climate modeling efforts, not solely meteorology. And satellites? They are our eyes and ears for the atmosphere."

NWS rehiring across the U.S., in ¶¶Òõh

Tom Fahy, the legislative director for the union that represents weather service employees, said the agency lost a total of about 600 employees to the cuts, including roughly 100 probationary employees who were terminated, 300 who retired early and another 200 who resigned after accepting buyout deals. 

The NWS is now looking to hire meteorologists, physical scientists and the electronic technicians who take care of weather radars and other sensitive equipment, Fahy said. 

While it's unclear where the NWS will place its new permanent hires and which former employees will be eligible, Fahy said he expects they'll go to the most severely understaffed weather forecasting offices. Those include offices in Sacramento and Hanford, California; Cheyenne, Wyoming; Goodland, Kansas; Jackson, Kentucky; and Fairbanks, Alaska; some of which have halted overnight operations, Fahy said. 

"These six offices are the most critical in the country," he said. 

A handful of other offices across the U.S. face serious shortages as well, including in Lake Charles, where Fahy said staffing is among the most severely stretched in ¶¶Òõh. As of Wednesday, Fahy said seven of 24 total positions were vacant in Lake Charles, a city that is no stranger to major natural disasters. 

At least four longtime meteorologists, each with more than 30 years of weather forecasting experience, retired from the Lake Charles office in April, including meteorologist-in-charge Roger Erickson. Fahy said Lake Charles also lost one other meteorologist, a technician and a managerial electronics position. 

Stephen Carboni, now the acting meteorologist-in-charge, did not respond to an email requesting comment. 

Lake Charles positions may soon be filled

Reassignment opportunity notifications for three positions in the Lake Charles office closed on May 27, according to records provided by Mike Buchanan, lead meteorologist in charge of the NWS New Orleans. Fahy said that means those positions — two lead meteorologists and a meteorologist in charge — will likely soon be staffed, though he called the transfers a "temporary solution" to aid struggling offices. Several reassignment notifications also closed in offices across the U.S., including in Texas, Arkansas, Florida and Georgia. 

The New Orleans office, however, was largely spared from cuts. Buchanan said Tuesday that staffing at his office had not changed since he arrived in December 2024, with 25 of 27 jobs filled. 

While Buchanan said all of New Orleans' 14 weather forecasting positions are filled, it is down a science and operations officer and an administrative support assistant.

The National Hurricane Center, which tracks the Atlantic hurricanes that so often reach the Gulf Coast, was also largely unscathed by broader cuts to NOAA, according to