Only on 13: NWS office in Houston working to level hurricane season without key positions

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The fallout within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, continues after another round of cuts and agency retirements.

In Southeast Texas, meteorologist Lance Wood is the latest at the National Weather Service Office in Houston/Galveston to retire, taking an offer of early retirement from the Trump Administration last month. He's part of the second wave of early retirements to impact the office in 2025.

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Dan Reilly was the Warning Coordination Meteorologist at the local office and retired pre-election in late October. Jeff Evans was the Meteorologist-in-Charge and took round one of the Trump Administration's early retirement in February. Now Lance Wood, a former Science Operations Officer, has retired in round two of the same.

This means the National Weather Service in Houston is now without the top three managerial roles a local weather service office can have.

ABC13 Meteorologist Elyse Smith is the only one who had the chance to speak to all three ahead of their retirement.

In one of Lance's last interviews on the job, he told ABC13 that contingency plans are in place in case the office needs help during hurricane season. Still, Lance said he prepared the local team for his departure, noting that some meteorologists will have to take on new responsibilities and work longer hours due to the reduced staffing.

SEE HERE: Top meteorologist at Houston NWS retires early amid Trump administration staffing cuts

"We just had to be pretty adaptable," Wood said. He voiced some concerns, eluding to the fact that the agency will have to hire new staff eventually.

A source within NOAA tells ABC13 that the Houston-Galveston office has another vacancy for what would be, in this instance, the backup manager of the office. Furthermore, the Houston area weather service is, for now, the only office in the entire country with all these vacancies-a loss just before hurricane season and amid a hiring freeze.

Lance leaves behind a 30-year legacy that he'll remember by looking back at the big events he helped his community prepare for.

"Unfortunately, we're not too good at measuring lives saved," he said.

"But I often reflect on some of the bigger briefings and the big events. And you get some feedback after the fact of how people made the right choice because of something that we did."

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