Current and former agency officials and lawmakers said the cuts could have major impacts on Americans and the economy, compromising important functions.

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 U.S.

Scientists and researchers are warning that the Trump administration's firing of hundreds of workers at NOAA, the agency that provides the U.S. government's weather forecasts, will put American lives at risk and stifle crucial climate research.

The terminations come days before a potential severe weather outbreak in the southeastern U.S. — and just months ahead of the next Atlantic hurricane season.

The people who once ran the federal weather and oceans agency say it touches people's daily lives in unnoticed ways and that massive firings there could cause needless deaths and a big hit to America's economy.