Jason and Jennifer Dunn, meteorologists with the National Weather Service in Fort Worth, haven’t been paid since December but are required to work because the government deems them essential. They have two small daughters.

“There is no money coming into our household,” said Jason, who is a union representative for the National Weather Service Employees Organization. “We have some savings we could live off of for a while, but a lot of federal employees are not in that boat. They live paycheck to paycheck, and there are real consequences.”

The Dunns estimate their savings will last another month or two.

“I think the biggest impact is just the stress level,” he said. “The added stress of having to worry about, ‘How much longer is this gonna go on? Am I going to miss a payment here and there?'”

National Weather Service meteorologists continue to issue weather forecasts and warnings through their usual channels, including Twitter. But they are barred from visiting classrooms or doing other work considered nonessential, such as conducting severe weather training for the public.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which houses the weather service, said, “The accuracy of the Nation’s forecast model is maintained to the same standards as normal … NOAA is deeply appreciative of the dedication of these individuals to providing outstanding weather forecasts to the nation.”

University researchers are also feeling the shutdown’s impact. The National Science Foundation, which accounts for about 27 percent of the total federal budget for basic research conducted at U.S. colleges and universities, is closed. Foundation employees have stopped reviewing grant applications and responding to questions from researchers.

The National Institutes of Health, which supports medical research, is one of several federal agencies that remain open. Congress approved its spending bill earlier last year.  

“The longer the shutdown continues, the more of an issue it will become,” said James Quick, associate vice president for research at Southern Methodist University, which receives about $10 million a year, or roughly one-third of its research budget, from the NSF. He expressed particular concern for the growing backlog of applications that could delay funding and grant renewals through the rest of this year.

Rita Economos, an SMU assistant professor who studies large volcanoes, heard from the NSF in December that her grant application would likely be approved. She and colleagues need the money for a powerful new electron microscope. Now she doesn’t know when the grant money will come through.

Her future as a scientist, she feels, depends on this project. As a young faculty member, Economos will soon be up for tenure. To earn a full professorship, she must prove to her colleagues that she can set up and run a lab, attract federal funding and publish papers that leave an impact on her field. The shutdown has slowed her progress.

“I don’t feel I have a shortage of ideas but a shortage of time to turn those ideas into measurements and data and interpretations,” she said. “It’s all about speed, basically.”

The careers of other scientists are riding on her microscope, too. A colleague who planned to custom build the instrument may have to push back his retirement to do so. At the other end of the spectrum are students applying for graduate school at SMU.

Economos was hoping to admit a student who would run the microscope and help her set up her lab, but now she’s not sure she will have work for the student to do.

“We’re telegraphing to students that taking up a career in science is risky,” said Economos. “It is just adding fuel to the problem of the U.S. falling behind in science.”