New meteorologist-in-charge appointed for National Weather Service’s Houston-Galveston office | Houston Public Media

Several months after the meteorologist-in-charge at the National Weather Service’s Houston-Galveston office opted for early retirement, the federal agency overseeing the weather service has appointed a replacement.

Matt Moreland is taking on the role, according to a Monday announcement by Todd Lericos, the acting meteorologist-in-charge at the Houston-Galveston office.

“Mr. Moreland currently serves as a senior advisor to the director of the National Weather Service,” Lericos said in a news release. “He previously led the Science and Technology Service Division at our Southern region headquarters and has served as meteorologist-in-charge at National Weather Service offices in San Diego, California, and Key West, Florida.”

Moreland also previously worked at the Houston-Galveston office for over a decade, from 1998 to 2011. Lericos said Moreland is expected to begin his new role sometime in August, but a start date had not yet been set.

Moreland did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Jeffry Evans was the previous full-time meteorologist-in-charge. He had more than 30 years of experience with the National Weather Service (NWS) and had been at the Houston-Galveston office for eight years.

Evans’ last day was Feb. 27, according to ABC 13. Evans was one of three top leaders at the Houston-Galveston office to take an early retirement offer from the federal government, after President Donald Trump’s administration issued a hiring freeze for the organization.

“The three of us oversaw basically the operation for the local office, but we were all in our mid-upper 50s and ended up taking the early retirement offers,” Evans said, speaking on Hello Houston in May. “What that ended up doing is leaving a void for local office leadership.”

As of Tuesday, the Houston-Galveston office still listed 11 vacancies on its website, including the position Moreland will soon take over.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which oversees the NWS, has recently come under renewed criticism about its staffing cuts after the July 4 flooding in the Texas Hill Country left at least 100 people dead across several counties.

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In early May, Houston lawmakers sent a letter to NOAA demanding answers regarding the staffing shortage at the Houston-Galveston office. Less than a month later, Trump issued a temporary exemption to fill “critical positions” at the weather service.