Staff shortages halt some federal weather balloon launches amid Trump cuts
The Trump administration is pausing at least a handful of balloon launches that collect weather data in at least three locations due to staffing shortages.
On Friday, the administration said it would suspend some launches in Albany, N.Y, and Gray, Maine, because of “a lack of Weather Forecast Office (WFO) staffing.”
This comes after it previously said it would halt launches in Kotzebue, Alaska, for the same reason.
The weather balloon launches collect information including temperature, relative humidity and wind speed and direction.
The halted launches that have been publicly announced represent just a few locations out of 92 weather service locations that launch balloons each day.
But they appear to indicate that the administration’s recent job cuts are having at least some impact on federal services.
The news comes after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which houses the National Weather Service, cut hundreds of jobs amid a broader push from the administration to fire new or recently promoted employees. An additional 1,000 cuts are expected at NOAA.
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