U.S. Senators Jerry Moran of Kansas and Gary Peters of Michigan introduced the Federal Operational Resilience in Emergency Conditions and Storm Tracking, or FORECAST Act that would exempt certain National Weather Service employees from any executive order or memorandum imposing a hiring freeze. The roles included in the exemption include positions responsible for issuing weather and flood warnings, maintaining critical observational equipment and protecting life and property. Moran says staffing National Weather Service Offices, particularly in rural parts of the country, is a constant challenge, and due to recent staffing shortages in Kansas, they’ve been unable to provide 24/7 weather forecasting.
Senator Moran recently secured a National Exemption from the Federal hiring freeze to enable the weather service to hire meteorologists and weather forecasters. As employees retired or left for other jobs, the Goodland NWS office had to stop night-time forecasting in May due to staffing shortages. While they work to fill the vacancies, the office will be temporarily staffed by a rotation of employees from other offices to return to 24/7 operations on June 15th.
