The NOAA website still touts the work of ERS personnel ahead of Superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Irene, the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, Mardi Gras, the NCAA Final Four, and the 2013 National Boy Scout Jamboree in Glen Jean, West Virginia.  In that case, the Jamboree included an outdoor concert in late July, when the area is often scoured by severe heat, flash floods, and lightning strikes.  To prepare, four ERS meteorologists joined a task force more than a year in advance. The day of the concert, they convinced the organizer to push the start time up to 4 p.m., instead of 7 p.m. The area was clear at 6:45 p.m. when lightning struck the camp, endangering $200,000 in equipment and tens of thousands of scouts.  In Proenza's vision, each of the NWS's 122 offices would have three specialists: one to support emergency responders, one to support transportation and energy officials, and one to tailor the local response to climate change. Instead, the NWS will maintain only about 10 non-ERS forecasters in each office. That's not enough to handle severe weather events, according to the union.  "We're moving in the wrong direction," said Proenza. "Our staffing has always been minimal and outside of fair weather we always need more people."  Read MoreCaution: Storm may batter this sector  The program's end comes amid broader shortages at America's first line of defense against severe weather. In the last four years, NWS staff has shrunk from 3,877 to 3,495, a loss of about 10 percent of the workforce, according to numbers tracked by the NWS Employees Organization. About 200 of these positions are considered "emergency essential."  Those employees are required to report to work during extreme weather. There are also dozens of openings for flood experts and interns, sparking concern that the NWS won't be able to train new hires fast enough to maintain even its current size.  Vaccaro, the spokesperson for NOAA, said the organization is working to fill these positions soon.  There is only so much they can do with a stagnant budget, says Kathyrn Miles, the author of Superstorm, the first moment-by-moment recreation of Sandy.  "What results from all of this is hours of overtime, missed sick leave, and offices with crucial staffing shortages," she said in an email. "Meteorologists at the NWS struggle to keep up with daily forecasting during calm weather periods: during crises like Hurricane Sandy, those vacancies can mean the difference between life and death."
The NWS failed to staff an elite team of emergency forecasters and it cost NYC an estimated $200 million, NBC New reports.