NOAA layoffs impacting National Weather Services workers in Oklahoma
NORMAN, Okla. (KFOR) — Hundreds of weather forecasters were fired in the latest wave of nationwide DOGE cuts on Thursday.
The Associated Press reports that the cuts account for about 10% of NOAA's workforce.
AP is also reporting job cuts with 375 probationary employees in the National Weather Service nationwide.
We can't confirm the number of firings at offices in Norman or Tulsa.
The National Weather Service sent News 4 a statement:
We are not discussing internal personnel and management matters. NOAA remains dedicated to its mission, providing timely information, research, and resources that serve the American public and ensure our nation's environmental and economic resilience.
Susan Buchanan, NWS Public Affairs
'No transparency': Oklahoma's federal lawmakers mostly quiet amid federal layoffs
Gayland Kitch is the Director of Emergency Management for the City of Moore.
'Much of the data, almost all of the data, the observations, the balloon launches, the radars all come from our National Weather Service,' Kitch said.
You may be wondering what's next as severe weather season approaches.
Kitch said he can't speak on the federal layoffs because he doesn't yet know the effects it will have.
Norman's new mayor-elect, Stephen Holman, addressed the layoffs on social media.
'Reducing staffing at such a vital institution could have serious consequences for public safety and disaster preparedness,' Holman said
'It's highly important that we all work together,' Kitch said. 'We all have a piece of the puzzle and the bottom line is to make sure that the people who are in our cities and towns and our communities are safe.'
The Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management also sent News 4 a statement about the layoffs:
Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management works very closely with our partners at the National Weather Service and we rely heavily on their expertise and the services they provide. Oklahoma is covered by four National Weather Service Forecast Offices across the state from the panhandle down to McCurtain County in southeast Oklahoma, so we could certainly see impacts from changes to those offices as well as to the National Weather Center and the Tulsa River Forecast Center. We are closely monitoring this issue for further information on the specifics of those impacts.
Keli Cain, OEM
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Overnight storms bring powerful winds, likely tornadoes to parts of Oklahoma
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Kathy's #Mailbag, June 6, 2025
Jun. 6—The story of Urbana's "state streets" ... next steps for a long-time church congregation on the UI campus ... a recent NOAA weather radio signal outage ... and what happens to gym shoes that are tossed over power lines. All in this week's Mailbag. Townies and most UI alumni know about the cluster of "state streets" in the neighborhood just north of Florida Avenue and east of Lincoln Avenue. It turns out that at least 19 U.S. states have lent their names to streets in the City of Urbana since it was founded in 1833. They were named one at a time, or a few at a time, over many decades. And some of their names were changed along the way. It's easier to trace the "when" than the "why" behind the names. An 1858 map of Urbana shows California and Oregon streets extending east from present-day Lincoln Avenue. California had become a state in 1850, but Oregon did not officially join the union until 1859 — so the street in Urbana may, technically, have been named after the Oregon Territory. An 1893 atlas of Champaign County showed Ater Street as the name of current-day Nevada Street. Dry Street had been renamed Illinois Street by 1909, and Nevada Street (west of Lincoln Avenue) was shown on the 1909 map, as well. (If you're not confused enough already, think about this: Hubbard Avenue was the name of the three-block stretch of current-day Nevada Street that lay just east of Lincoln Avenue, as shown on a map dated "191?" at the county historical archives. Back then, Ater Street picked up again east of North Street, which we know today as McCullough Street. There is no Ater or Hubbard street today; those segments are now Nevada Street.) In his April 30, 2021 Mailbag, Tom Kacich told the story of Blair's Addition — the first name of the fashionable subdivision developed by UI Professor Joseph C. Blair. It soon became known as the University Heights Addition to Urbana, and it's the area that comes to mind when many of us hear the term "state streets." Some townies may have had their own name for the neighborhood in later years. "In 1910, according to a February 1937 story in the Urbana Courier, Blair purchased 40 acres of land — south of what is now Michigan Avenue — that he intended to develop as a model residential section of Urbana. Streets and lots were surveyed, sewage and water lines were installed, streets and sidewalks were built on five 'state' streets: Michigan, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Delaware and Florida," Kacich wrote. A 1913 map of Urbana shows Washington Street just south of Nevada Street, and the corporate (city) limit boundary was just south of Michigan Avenue. The map shows Michigan Avenue, Iowa Street, Indiana Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue (east of Lincoln Avenue). However, it appears present-day Indiana Avenue was called Morris Avenue at that time. And it seems current-day Ohio Street was called Indiana Avenue in those early years. I've not found documentation about who, exactly, named which of those streets — or why some of the names were changed. Several maps from the same era show that the west-of-Lincoln-Avenue portion of present-day Pennsylvania Avenue was called Maple Avenue in the city's early days; Maple Avenue had been renamed Pennsylvania Avenue by the time the 1923 campus map was published. Florida Avenue was on that 1923 map, as well. A 1926 map of the city, "revised in 1936 and 1947," showed Maryland and Virginia Drives as short north-south streets sandwiched between Pennsylvania and Florida Avenues. 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