As Trump administration firings at the National Weather Service continue to impact local offices across the U.S., the agency announced Thursday that staffing limitations may further reduce or suspend the launch of weather balloons. The announcement follows weeks of legal uncertainty over widespread staff reductions, and comes the day after the agency’s Sacramento office announced that it would stop answering public phone lines and reduce the extent and frequency of certain forecasting products due to “critically reduced staffing.” Prior to that announcement, the office said it would be limiting its weather updates on social media. The changes are among the first of many that weather service managers say they are likely to make as they prepare for an era of “degraded operations” under the current administration.

Other NOAA and weather forecast news:

• NBC: NOAA workers report ‘intentional chaos’ during personnel cuts
• KTVI  (St. Louis, Mo.): 3 Regional Climate Centers go dark from ‘lapse’ in funding
• FOX4 (Kansas City, Mo.): NOAA funding cuts erasing years of weather data for experts
• NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research: News release: Looking to the Pacific, scientists improve forecasts of atmospheric rivers