Weather experts predict that Elon Musk's latest round of government firings at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), including at the National Weather Service, will almost certainly make it more difficult to predict dangerous weather emergencies as quickly as needed.

NOAA — which includes the National Hurricane Center and the Tsunami Warning Center — is the latest in a string of federal agencies targeted for cuts by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

Alabama’s preeminent meteorologist defended workers with the National Weather Service on Tuesday as Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency takes aim at the agency overseeing the NWS with job and budget cuts.

Federal workers who were not let go said the afternoon layoffs included meteorologists who do crucial local forecasts in National Weather Service offices across the country.

The people who once ran the federal weather and oceans agency say it touches people’s daily lives in unnoticed ways and that massive firings there could cause needless deaths and a big hit to America’s economy.