National Weather Service NWS

A joint resolution signed on February 9, 1870, directed the Army Signal Service to take weather observations and warn of storms on the Great Lakes and coasts. The service moved to the Agriculture Department as the Weather Bureau in 1891 and to Commerce in 1940, and it was renamed the National Weather Service when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was formed in 1970. It is led by a Director who reports to the NOAA Administrator.

The service operates more than 120 local forecast offices, a national network of Doppler radars, and twice-daily weather balloon launches, and it runs national centers such as the National Hurricane Center and the Storm Prediction Center. It is the only federal source of official tornado, hurricane, flood, and winter storm warnings, and its forecasts, model output, and observations are free, forming the backbone that television meteorologists, apps, and private weather companies build on.

Staff departures and hiring freezes in 2025 left many offices short-handed, and some reduced balloon launches. After flash flooding in the Texas Hill Country on July 4, 2025, killed more than 130 people, debate focused on staffing, warning communication, and local alert systems, and the administration authorized new hiring. Supporters of the cuts argued that forecasting could be modernized and partly handled by the private sector, while critics, including many meteorologists, warned that vacancies endangered lives.