Major US Weather Service Near 'Breaking Point' Amid Storms

A leaner National Weather Service appears to be causing massive problems amid a rash of deadly storms.

Severe tornadoes plowed through the central U.S. over the weekend from Texas to Kentucky, killing dozens of people in their wake; as well as causing damage to thousands of buildings and homes.

The frightening weather systems continued into Monday where over 100,000 people lost power in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri.

And according to the Associated Press, the NWS was left in "scramble mode" due to deep cuts to staffing traced back to Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

The weather service reportedly kept staffers overtime on Friday night to make sure people got the potentially lifesaving information they needed. But it's not a model that many forecasters believe can be sustainable moving forward.

"It has made it hard on the local offices just to make sure that we have all of our important duties covered. But, I mean, most of the people take those important duties seriously, so we're going to do what it takes to cover it," said Rich Thompson, lead operations forecaster at the NWS Storm Prediction Center in Norman, OK.

"I hope we're not in the same staffing situation long term. ... It would be hard to sustain this for months or years."

Another former weather service director said that respective teams will continue to do the best they can, but it'll only be a matter of time before a dip in quality.