Senior weather forecasters Saturday expressed worry over the lack of young men and women to continue the work of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) in the coming years.

Catalino Davis, PAGASA’s acting Deputy Administrator for Administration and Engineering, said that aside from the problem of lack of state-of-the art equipment for advanced weather forecasting, the state-run weather bureau has also been facing the problem of becoming an “ageing agency.”

“We have an ageing workforce and we are worried that there will not be enough personnel to replace us. We need new young blood and new personnel,” Davis said during the seminar over the weekend for mediapersons held at the San Roque Dam Guesthouse in San Manuel, Pangasinan to brief them on information and data concerning weather and climate.

Davis said that about 40 percent of the 900 PAGASA personnel are comprised of 41 to 50 years old specialists, who are nearing retirement age while experts with ages ranging from 31 to 40 years old compose almost 39 percent.

He noted that young professionals with ages ranging from 21 to 30 years, who will be trained to succeed weather experts and climate specialists, only make up 1.45 percent or 13 of PAGASA's entire workforce.