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Elon Musk has cut the weather service for farmers in rural America. Experts warn of the far-reaching consequences. The cuts can endanger lives.
According to the US magazine Successful Farming (SF), Elon Musk reduced the personnel for meteorological services in rural America before his resignation. The consequences: The weather, which is particularly crucial for farmers, is no longer being regularly monitored. Most affected are the weather service offices covering parts of rural Nebraska. They can no longer monitor weather events around the clock. The experts from the National Weather Service (NWS) warn that the resulting staff shortage threatens public safety.
Weather forecasts and warnings in the US are inaccurate.
The 24/7 coverage of the weather offices in Wyoming and Kansas for large parts of Nebraska was discontinued after personnel reductions under the then-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) by Elon Musk. Now, other offices must take on this work. However, as SF explains, the meteorologists are far from sufficient for this task. Predictions and warnings for these regions will thus become less accurate and worse. Five former directors of the National Weather Service have now addressed the public in a letter. They expressed concern that the cuts could endanger lives, as reported by Successful Farming. The few employees may not be able to provide accurate and timely severe weather warnings, monitor storm reports, and control radar during severe weather. The offices are simply too thinly staffed.
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In March, the Trump administration laid off around 600 employees of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the NWS to restructure bureaucracy, SF explains. Like in other rural areas in the US, rural Nebraska also has fewer news stations providing the public with important and time-critical information, such as weather warnings. Many of these areas rely on rural radio stations. These stations operate under the Nebraska Rural Radio Association (NRRA), also known as the Rural Radio Network. This is a group of stations owned by farmers and ranchers. They provide news and weather reports for the rural areas of the state. The NRRA also warns of the consequences of the cuts in the weather service. The change is "alarming" as severe weather warnings could be lacking.
US Weather Service: Extreme staff shortage due to DOGE.
This is not the first DOGE cut for the weather service in Nebraska this year, as Successful Farming further reports. In Omaha, the use of weather balloons was supposed to be cut. This plan has now been put on hold after protests. Many rural NWS offices in the US, however, are struggling with increasingly extreme staff shortages - and have significant problems delivering up-to-date and reliable weather forecasts. And the plans of DOGE give meteorologists and farmers little hope for improvement.