DES MOINES, Iowa – The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which runs the National Weather Service, could lose funding if a drafted budget proposal from the Trump administration becomes reality.

Bill Gallus, a professor of meteorology at Iowa State University, said that the cuts would have a significant impact on the public.

“The big change in the last week is that a draft proposal that the president wants was released that suggested cutting almost all research that NOAA does and closing down pretty much all of the research laboratories that exist and, you know, from my perspective, this this is by far would be the cuts that would have the biggest impact on the public,” Gallus said

Gallus said that the National Weather Service has already faced layoffs when over a thousand employees were confirmed in early March.

“So far there have already been many cuts to personnel at NOAA. One of the things that happened was that people who were on probationary hires, meaning they had taken their position in the last year, many of them were let go. In addition, the government is offering a buyout, which will probably cause many people that had the most experience within NOAA to leave the agency,” Gallus said.

Gallus said that due to the staff shortage, the public needs to be more aware of severe weather, specifically as we head into tornado season, where warnings are already brief.

“I think the public will have to pick up a little bit more of the slack of paying attention, maybe make sure you’re watching your phone closely, because you may not get as much time as you’re used to in a warning telling you to get to safety because the tornado was coming,” Gallus said.