By TONY GUERRERO
Hays Post
The National Weather Service Office in Goodland has reduced some services in recent months due to a staffing shortage.
Jeremy Martin, the meteorologist in charge at the Goodland office, said retirements and turnover that occurred over a short period drove the shortages.
"We had some retirements that came about this time last year, and we had been gradually losing people here to promotions and things like that," Martin said. "It wasn't a cut to funding or anything like that. It was more unfortunate timing of retirements."
The Goodland National Weather Service office serves multiple counties in northwest Kansas, including Cheyenne, Rawlins, Decatur, Norton, Phillips, Sherman, Thomas, Sheridan, Graham, Wallace, Logan, Gove, Greeley and Wichita.
The office also serves portions of Colorado and Nebraska.
To prevent staff from being overworked, Martin said the office temporarily reduced or adjusted some services. A weekly outlook packet for emergency managers is on pause and some routine reports have been slightly modified.
"Warnings will always come first. That is our primary mission while we're here, and that is something we take very seriously," he said.
Martin said the office has at times adjusted staffing hours to focus on peak severe weather periods, which typically occur from the afternoon into the late evening.
Martin said staffing levels began to decline about two years ago, with a sharper impact last year after several retirements. He said the office has since hired new employees who will join the team this summer.
"I think this winter we'll probably be close to what our normal staffing experience level is. We'll still have a couple of new people, but I'd be comfortable saying we'll be closer to normal than we were in the winter," he said.
Martin said covering severe weather this summer is not expected to be a concern, thanks to a strong support network. The office has also relied on assistance from other National Weather Service locations, including the Dodge City office, to help fill gaps.
With Goodland located in rural Kansas, Martin said recruiting experienced forecasters is difficult, which he adds exacerbated the problem, even as his office has no problem welcoming new hires out of college.
"Most of the staff here are people who have only been here for five years, and that's great. We do a really good job at training them. I think we're probably one of the better places in the country to come and learn," he said.
Martin said the office is prepared for severe weather but could be stretched during high-activity periods, similar to those seen in eastern Kansas. However, he said this is the case regardless of staffing levels.
"We got our schedule down. We'll have people when we need them with extra help coming. I think we're going to be OK," he said.
Meanwhile, community partners are working to close a radar coverage gap affecting Hays. The Hays Community Radar Project is seeking to raise $360,000 to install a weather radar to cover Hays and the surrounding area, as the nearest National Weather Service radar is in Dodge City.
SEE RELATED STORY: Group seeks to close radar gap with Hays Community Radar Project
You can follow the National Weather Service in Goodland on Facebook.