ASHEVILLE — Meteorologists for the National Weather Service are still on the job, but scientists who study long-term climate changes have been furloughed.
The National Climatic Data Center in the federal building in downtown Asheville was shut down on the first day of a government shutdown that affected 800,000 federal employees nationwide and hundreds of jobs locally.
Furloughed workers across federal agencies cleared out of their offices. They left voice messages on their phones, explaining they couldn’t respond until funding was restored.
But the federal building wasn’t closed, and not all climate research stopped. The Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites-NC, an academic research office of N.C. State University, is still open for business, said director Otis Brown.
“We have plenty to keep us busy,” Brown said.
But without federal counterparts or resources to rely on, the CICS staff have had to reorder priorities in working with the vast troves of weather data stored inside the building.
U.S. courts remained in session and mail delivery continued, along with health care for veterans at the Charles George VA Medical Center in Oteen.
Air traffic was unaffected at the Asheville Regional
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