With the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season in its first week, national news headlines have drawn attention to staffing cuts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which oversees the National Weather Service (NWS), an essential agency for hurricane forecasting and warning coordination.
The weather service lost nearly 600 positions following funding cuts ordered by the Trump administration and the Department of Government Efficiency, which until this week was initiated and led by the world’s richest man, Elon Musk.
The NWS reported on June 3 that it was taking steps to rehire or newly hire 100 positions to stabilize the agency.
But that didn’t stop TV meteorologist John Morales from interrupting his on-air forecast on June 2 to issue a dire warning about how the staffing and funding cuts could affect his agency’s efforts during hurricane season.
“As you’ve grown accustomed to my presentations over my 34 years in South Florida, I went on TV and told you, confidently, ‘(The storm) is going to turn. You don’t need to worry,’” he told his NBC viewers in Miami. “I’m here to tell you I’m not sure I can do that this year. Because of the cuts — the gutting, the sledgehammer attack on science in general.“
While Morales spoke, the screen behind him flashed statistics, showing that the Central and South Florida National Weather Service is 19%-39% understaffed. He added that the cuts have also led to a 17% reduction in weather balloon launches across the United States.
What does all this mean for the Florida Keys, an island chain that’s particularly vulnerable to hurricanes, and where residents, government officials and business owners have come to know and rely heavily on local meteorologists and forecasters Chip Kasper and Jon Rizzo?
Kasper, the meteorologist-in-charge at the Key West office, offered reassurances to the Keys Weekly on June 3, saying the NWS Key West forecast office is open, operational and fully prepared for the 2025 hurricane season. Kasper added that the Keys community will not notice any changes in the way the agency handles storm forecasting, predictions, warnings or emergency responses.
He declined to comment on the specific staffing levels or say whether the Key West office has been subject to any staff reductions, referring such questions to federal officials.
But, Kasper emphasized, the National Weather Service has maintained an observation and forecast office in Key West since the federal agency was established in 1870 — and that won’t change.
He also said that despite some reductions in weather balloon launches in other parts of the country, the Key West office continues to launch two weather balloons per day to record and track key weather data points.
