As Lisa mentioned, hundreds of staff have been laid off at NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

That includes employees of the National Weather Service, and that's behind forecasts and severe weather alerts across the country.

It also provides crucial data for scientists and meteorologists.

To help us understand the potential impact, we're joined now by science correspondent

Miles O'Brien. Miles, it's always great to see you. I have to say the National Weather Service

is one of those things we almost take for granted. And there are other weather services out there.

So why is this one so important? It is easy to take for granted. I'm almost invisible in some ways,

but it is truly the backbone of all weather forecasting

in this country.

It's freely available to all.

Airlines, first responders, farmers, fishermen, all depend on these forecasts.

They also issue crucial warnings for hurricanes, tornadoes, floods,

even tsunamis. And there are many services out there that add bells and whistles to this raw

data, but they would be lost without the National Weather Service. Matthew Capucci is a senior

meteorologist for one of those private services,

my radar. Anytime your phone buzzes with a watch, a warning, a tornado warning, a flash flood

warning, that comes from the National Weather Service. People sitting there watching the radar

nonstop and producing forecasts as well. It's estimated that the Weather Service cost taxpayers

about 1.3, 1.4 billion, but gives a 50-plus

full return on investment given how much of the economy is tied to weather forecasts.

Miles, there are already cuts in personnel and expertise being made. There's some people posting

about routine weather balloon in Alaska, for example, that's not going up?

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