The National Weather Service office in Hanford is down to five meteorologists and is tied for the highest vacancy rate in the nation following budget cuts by the Trump administration.

The Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday that the Hanford station is supposed to have 13 meteorologists to service an area covering the San Joaquin Valley and Yosemite, Kings Canyon, and Sequoia national parks.

“Hanford is one of the poorest-staffed offices in the country,” Tom Fahy, legislative director of the NWS Employees Organization, told the Times. Fahy said that Hanford’s 62% vacancy rate is tied with Goodland, Kansas, for the highest in the U.S.

Because Hanford doesn’t have enough meteorologists to cover its operations, NWS San Diego staffers have handled the overnight shift, the Times reported.

NWS has 3,757 employees across the country, as opposed to 4,369 before the Trump administration used layoffs and buyouts to shrink staffing by 14%.

Meanwhile, Sacramento NWS has eight meteorologists and eight openings for the nation’s second-highest vacancy rate.

‘Preparedness Saves Lives’

Critics of the low staffing levels point out the importance of having accurate forecasts during California’s intense fire season. Wildfire incident commanders rely on this information to formulate suppression strategies daily and assign personnel.

“We know preparedness saves lives,” Alice C. Hill,  who worked on climate resilience and security issues for the the Obama administration, told The New York Times. “When you make cuts to the weather service, that is undermining forecasts. When you cut the collection of data, satellites, all of that will degrade the accuracy of forecasts. And even with a strong forecast, it’s meaningless unless the people who need to hear it hear it.”

The president’s spending plan for next year inflicts another blow on weather forecasting. It cuts funding for NOAA by $2 billion, or 27%.

Read more at this link.

NWS Hanford Forecast Area