Emergency hiring plans are underway in an effort to keep two Central Valley weather stations fully staffed in the wake of federal budget cuts. The National Weather Service’s Sacramento and Hanford offices have been operating for months with reduced staff. California legislators have issued dire warnings about the service reductions, calling the cuts “the beginning of a public safety crisis.” … [Tom Fahy, the legislative director for the union that represents the National Weather Service] said in late July there were 11 vacancies among the 29 staff positions at the NWS’s Sacramento office, including eight unfilled meteorologist roles. Three technical staff vacancies — an observing program lead, or OPL, an assistant electronic systems analyst and an administrative assistant — are also leaving gaps, he said.

Other NOAA news:

• Inside Climate News: Private companies step up to gather weather data for NOAA as staffing cuts hobble agency forecasting 
• Bloomberg.com: AI is fast-tracking climate research, from weather forecasts to sardines
• SeafoodSource: US Senate Commerce Committee advances Trump’s nominee to lead NOAA
• The Hill: Opinion: The floods in Texas show why we need to fully fund NOAA labs