Hundreds of weather forecasters and other federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration employees on probationary status were fired Thursday, lawmakers and weather experts said. 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.

Federal workforce reductions hit NOAA, the agency responsible for monitoring natural disasters and providing crucial weather forecasts across the nation.

Hundreds of staffers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, were laid off Thursday as the Trump administration and its newly-created Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE,