# Trump layoffs have hollowed out key weather monitoring staff amid storm season

As  severe storms swept the US this week, recent  administration staffing cuts have left key parts of weather monitoring and disaster preparedness systems severely understaffed, the Guardian has learned.

March typically signals the start of a four-month tornado season across the eastern two-thirds of the US. Last year’s tornado season was , and this year’s tornado season is getting off to an early active start.

The period of unsettled  raised concerns internally among National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologists that the newly downsized agency could be stretched thin.

A multi-day tornado outbreak tore across several southern states, with significant damage , including part of an elementary school. Dangerous storms then spread eastward into the Carolinas and the mid-Atlantic. Strong winds in Mississippi killed and injured multiple people in separate incidents.

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