Say those who have been there, all available evidence suggests that whoever was behind the wave of cuts at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Weather Service has never worked in a forecast office during a severe-thunderstorm or tornado outbreak.

Current and former agency officials and lawmakers said the cuts could have major impacts on Americans and the economy, compromising important functions.

Lives are being put in danger,” one meteorologist warned, as some experts feared the cuts will harm public safety.

The agency has seen a series of reductions, hiring freezes and buyouts as part of the Trump administration’s effort to shrink federal government.

The National Weather Service is temporarily grounding weather balloons in New York and Maine due to staffing shortages. These balloons collect critical atmospheric data to help meteorologists forecast weather,

Weather balloon launches are essential to weather forecasting. They are launched all over the country, mainly by employees at local National Weather Services (NWS) offices, several times a day. As these balloons float away into the sky,