FORECAST Act Protects Essential Weather Forecaster Jobs from Federal Hiring Freezes

The new Federal Operational Resilience in Emergency Conditions And Storm Tracking Act, mercifully shortened to the FORECAST Act, is a short but critical piece of legislation focused squarely on public safety. What it does is simple: it carves out an exemption for specific, essential jobs at the National Weather Service (NWS) from any potential federal government hiring freezes. This means that even if the President orders a wide-ranging freeze on federal hiring, the NWS can still bring on or keep crucial staff needed to track and warn us about severe weather. Specifically, the bill protects positions in meteorology (Job Series 1340), hydrology (Job Series 1315), and a third series (856), ensuring that the people responsible for issuing flood and tornado warnings stay on the job.

Why Your Local Weather Forecaster Just Got Job Security

Think of the NWS as the national early warning system for everything from blizzards to hurricanes. If the government hits the pause button on hiring to save money, those critical positions—the ones that keep the radar running, model the river levels, and issue the warnings that save lives—can be left vacant. The FORECAST Act fixes this by stating that the Secretary of Commerce must exempt these roles from any freeze within 30 days of the law passing (SEC. 2). This is a direct measure to maintain operational resilience, meaning the NWS can keep functioning at full capacity when we need it most.

For the person living in a coastal town or on a flood plain, this bill is about reliability. It means that the severe weather alert that wakes you up at 3 a.m. during a storm is less likely to be delayed because the modeling staff was cut or a key technician position was left unfilled. The bill recognizes that these jobs aren't just bureaucratic overhead; they are literally the difference between life and death during a major weather event. It’s a practical step to ensure that public safety infrastructure doesn't become collateral damage in future budget battles.

Making Good on Canceled Job Offers

One interesting detail is the retroactivity clause. The bill voids any job offer cancellations for these specific NWS positions that occurred on or after January 20, 2025 (SEC. 2). If you were a meteorology student who had a job offer rescinded due to an early hiring freeze, this provision potentially puts that offer back on the table. This is a clear attempt to quickly restore staffing pipelines that might have been disrupted, signaling that these roles are a national priority.

To keep Congress in the loop, the Secretary of Commerce must also send an annual report detailing the staffing levels in these protected roles. This mandatory reporting ensures transparency and oversight, making sure the exemption is being used correctly and that these critical sections of the NWS remain fully staffed, ready to handle whatever the next storm season throws our way. While the bill limits the President’s authority to implement a complete, government-wide hiring freeze, it does so for a very specific, public-facing reason: keeping the weather warnings flowing.