The National Weather Service is hiring again. But that doesn’t mean the agency is flush with cash.
That was the mixed message delivered Tuesday by NWS Director Ken Graham. Even as Graham touted new hiring efforts — with plans to add 450 employees by the end of the year — he said tighter budget days are looming.
“We don’t have the money to do everything, and we are honestly on a path to go broke, trying to do everything,” Graham said at a town hall meeting held in Houston at the American Meteorological Society’s annual conference. “We’re not doing everything anymore. So be ready. Some of it’s going to be bumpy.”
The update follows a year of dramatic staff reductions and budget uncertainties at NWS. The agency, which is housed at NOAA, lost around 600 of its roughly 4,200 employees in 2025 through layoffs, early retirement offers and other staff reductions implemented by the Trump administration. Some forecasting offices lost their top meteorologists, while others were unable to operate 24 hours a day as usual.
