The Trump administration is trying to shuffle experienced National Weather Service employees into understaffed forecast offices after firings and early retirements left the agency with open jobs in regions that face high risk from weather and climate disasters.
A memo sent to all NWS employees Tuesday offers transfers to fill 76 meteorology vacancies by the end of May, including in hurricane hot zones along the Gulf and South Atlantic coasts and in southernmost Florida, including Miami and Key West.
The agency is seeking to fill an additional 79 positions in other areas, including information technology, physical scientists and technicians, according to two people who’ve seen other recently sent memos.
Among five meteorologist vacancies in Texas, two are in Houston, including a meteorologist in charge of its spaceflight meteorology group. Houston is also one of the lowest-lying major cities in the United States, where even moderate rainstorms can cause localized flooding. A large portion of the city was flooded by rain from Hurricane Harvey in 2017.
