But NOAA relies on federal funding in order to keep historic records, observe weather patterns, and produce informed forecasts.
The Trump Administration reduced NOAA’s workforce in 2025, and subsequently proposed steep cuts to the agency’s funding, hampering its ability to monitor weather conditions, analyze patterns, and provide forecasts.
The National Weather Service (NWS), which operates under NOAA, lost roughly 600 employees—about 15% of its workforce—through layoffs, buyouts and retirements. It must now respond to increasingly severe weather events—like hurricane season and wildfire season—with reduced resources. As a result, it announced last year that it was scaling back the tools used to track weather patterns, such as weather balloons.
The administration later proposed cutting NOAA’s overall budget by $1.6 billion, or roughly 26%, compared with fiscal year 2025.
“A leaner NOAA that focuses on core operational needs, eliminates unnecessary layers of bureaucracy, terminates nonessential grant programs, and ends activities that do not warrant a Federal role, will provide better value to the American public,” its budget summary stated.
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