Weather balloon operations will stop or be reduced at 11 locations across the country due to staffing shortages caused by recent NOAA layoffs.

The president-elect of the American Meteorological Society compares the situation to bolts in a steel office building, warning: “Nobody can say how many bolts you can leave out or remove before the structural integrity is compromised.

The reduction of launches at six stations is the latest in a growing string of balloon cancellations as the agency adapts to a shrinking staff.