National Weather Service’s Sacramento office cutting back on social media channels
The National Weather Service office in Sacramento announced Tuesday it would reduce monitoring and postings on its widely followed social media accounts, cutting back on real-time weather updates used by thousands.
“Going forward, this account will have limited monitoring and posting,” officials wrote in a brief statement online. “We always recommend having many ways to receive hazardous weather watches and warnings!”
The cutback would affect its presence on X, formerly known as Twitter, and Facebook. The weather service office has roughly 97,000 followers on the former and more than 165,000 followers on the Meta-owned platform.
No explanation was provided for the decision. Forecasters in the Arden Arcade-based facility directed media queries to National Weather Service headquarters. Officials at the weather service’s suburban Washington, D.C., headquarters said Wednesday in a statement that its bureaus’ social media platforms “have always been subject to staff availability,” without addressing the reason for the Sacramento cutbacks.
“Social media is one of the many sources of information from the National Weather Service,” said Michael Musher, an NWS spokesperson. “When it comes to staying alert, we strongly recommend that people consult multiple sources.”
The Sacramento accounts have been a trusted, fast-moving source of local forecasts, rain and snow totals and urgent warnings about storms and wildfires across the office’s coverage area, which runs across the Sacramento Valley to the Oregon border. A scan of other NWS social media accounts in California and Nevada showed no similar shutdown notices.
The move comes amid widespread vacancies at National Weather Service offices nationwide. Reporting by the Associated Press this week found that nearly half of the service’s forecast offices have vacancy rates exceeding 20%, a level experts described as “critical understaffing.” Staffing shortages have been reported in regions frequently struck by severe weather, including parts of the South and Midwest.
The exact staffing level at the Sacramento office is unclear, though news outlets widely reported last month that White House efficiency efforts led by informal adviser Elon Musk, who owns X, had targeted the weather service and its parent agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The AP said more than 1,000 employees — roughly 10% — from NOAA and its allied departments had been let go. NOAA, which is controlled by the U.S. Department of Commerce, had suffered a first round of firings in February, the AP reported, at the hands of the Department of Government Efficiency, led by Musk.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the weather service offices in Monterey, Oxnard and San Diego were recently hit by DOGE layoffs. The paper said the Monterey office had been helping forecasters in the Hanford office, the Central Valley’s other regional weather center, due to it being short-staffed by 50% before DOGE cuts.
And last month, Commerce officials submitted a plan to shed 20% of its staff without using layoffs, the online publication Government Executive reported. The publication said the proposal to the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management aimed to reduce the headcount at the cabinet agency by nearly 10,000 workers after roughly 1,600 employees accepted the Trump administration’s “deferred resignation” offer.
The office’s website lists limited in-person services, directing users to a general email address and noting that public outreach is confined to virtual tours since the COVID-19 pandemic. And changes have been noted about material on the NWS Sacramento website, notably the removal of links to documentation such as the “Climate of Sacramento” booklet, a 91-page volume of weather superlatives and averages for the capital region, among other items. The file, known as NWS WR-272, remains available on a NOAA repository.
But, as the AP noted, the entire agency produces 301 billion weather forecasts every year, reaching 96% of American households, according to a study by GovLab and the Omidyar Network.
In its announcement, the Sacramento office encouraged residents to use multiple sources for weather alerts, including NOAA Weather Radio, emergency apps, local media and “from your family, friends and coworkers.”
The announcement ignited a wave of frustration and sadness online. Many thanked local forecasters for years of clear-eyed updates, graphics and warnings. Others voiced deep concern over losing a lifeline they turned to daily, especially during dangerous storms.
The American Meteorological Society has criticized staffing reductions at the National Weather Service and its allied agencies. In a statement, the society warned that cuts to scientific agencies could undermine public safety and weather preparedness nationwide.
“The consequences to the American people will be large and wide-ranging, including increased vulnerability to hazardous weather,” the society said earlier this month. They noted that “the value of weather and climate information to the U.S. economy exceed $100 billion annually — roughly 10 times the investment made by U.S. taxpayers.”
“Recent terminations within the government workforce for science are likely to cause irreparable harm and have far-reaching consequences for public safety, economic well-being, and the United States’ global leadership,” the society said.
Supreme Court justices, meanwhile, ruled Tuesday that President Donald Trump would be allowed to end the jobs of 16,000 probationary federal workers across six agencies and departments. The Tuesday ruling pulled back a lower court’s order in March to return affected employees in the departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Interior, Treasury and Veterans Affairs to work while the federal workers fight the layoffs in court.
It was the third such ruling overturned by the high court at the request of White House lawyers, the Los Angeles Times noted.
This story was originally published April 9, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
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