Fatigued NWS Forecasters Fear Cuts: 'At A Point, Something Gives'

"When the federal government shut down twice this year, meteorologist Brandon Dunstan went to work, just like any other day at the National Weather Service office in Raleigh, N.C.

Dunstan, 38, worked 320 hours of overtime in 2017, including a 21-day stint with no days off. He said he gained 15 pounds during the year, rarely finding time to exercise. And when his 7-year-old daughter, Ellie Kate, was asked at school to explain what meteorologists do, she had a quick answer: They sleep.

Frazzled and overwhelmed by a chronic shortage of workers, the nation's front-line meteorologists say they have hit a breaking point, struggling to fill shifts and hoping that Washington will deliver some help.

Many meteorologists fear the situation will only worsen if President Trump gets his way next year by eliminating another 355 jobs, 70 percent of them forecasters."

Rob Hotakainen reports for Greenwire February 21, 2018.