CNN reports agency responsible for protecting life and property when severe weather hits lost more employees in first 100 days of Trump Admin than in last 15 years 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation blasted the Trump administration following news reports that the National Weather Service is headed into hurricane season with 30 of its 122 weather forecast offices without their most experienced official, known as the meteorologist-in-charge.

"Americans rely on the National Weather Service forecasts for everything from getting their kids to school on time to getting out of the way when a disaster hits,” Sen. Cantwell said. “The Trump administration’s cuts have put our most experienced forecasters on the sidelines and ended 24/7 operations at some offices which means when weather strikes, we could be without forecast operations. As we head into hurricane and wildfire season, this is an unprecedented abdication of basic government responsibilities that's going to cost lives and money."

Trump cuts, coupled with retirements and vacancies, leaves many areas of the country without critical forecasting experts. For example, according to the CNN report, the hurricane-prone Houston-Galveston forecast office lacks a single manager. Multiple offices have reduced or eliminated daily weather balloon launches and more are likely to follow suit following a wave of early retirements. One NWS forecast office, in Goodland, Kansas, is no longer operating 24/7, with about a dozen more likely to shift to non-24-hour operations if action isn’t taken. There are also more than 90 vacancies among the staff responsible for repairing NWS Doppler radars and automated surface weather observation stations, greatly raising the likelihood of prolonged equipment outages that could affect air travel.

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