Weather experts predict that Elon Musk's latest round of government firings at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), including at the National Weather Service, will almost certainly make it more difficult to predict dangerous weather emergencies as quickly as needed.

The cuts could have life-or-death consequences, according to critics of the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency.

Donald Trump claimed that the email was somehow intended to catch out nonexistent government employees—but the true purpose has emerged: to see how closely federal agencies are following the president’s agenda and sweeping executive orders, even as they face an onslaught of legal challenges.

Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency layoffs at the Oklahoma National Weather Center raise safety concerns during tornado season.

Multiple federal agencies appeared to be caught off guard by the Elon Musk-directed email from the Office of Personnel Management.

Elon Musk threatened to fire even more federal workers if they did not respond to his email demanding a list of five tasks completed.

A federal judge in California ruled late Thursday President Trump and Elon Musk’s mass firings of probationary government employees were illegal, siding with a coalition of labor unions and nonprofit groups.

Hundreds of weather forecasters and other federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration employees on probationary status were fired

Mark Eakin, a recently retired NOAA veteran who ran its Coral Reef Watch program for many years, told the Miami Herald he was alarmed by the “indiscriminate” slashes throughout the agency, which oversees everything from cutting-edge climate research to day-to-day operations that farmers and fishers rely on, as well as life-saving weather warnings.