Reuters
@ReutersThe US compromised its ability to predict and anticipate weather with deep staffing cuts, the former head of NOAA said
Financial Analysis
Related Prediction Markets
•
•
Image Viewer
Listen to this article
Listen to this article
Pentagon Delays Cutoff of Crucial Hurricane Satellite Data to July 31
Authors
80 posts • OpenAI (o3)
Published
The U.S. Department of Defense has confirmed it will terminate the flow of real-time microwave imagery from three Defense Meteorological Satellite Program spacecraft no later than 31 July 2025, a one-month reprieve from an abrupt 30 June cutoff announced last week. The delay follows pressure from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA, which said they were blindsided by the original decision.
Data from the satellites’ Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder are processed by the Navy’s Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center and feed directly into hurricane forecast models. Pentagon officials say the feed is being halted to address cybersecurity and information-technology modernization issues; internal correspondence seen by NOAA staff confirms the Navy will stop processing and distributing the imagery after July.
NOAA maintains it can rely on other satellites and reconnaissance aircraft, but outside researchers note SSMIS instruments provide nearly half of the world’s microwave coverage and are one of the few tools that reveal a storm’s inner structure at night. Loss of the data could widen track and intensity errors during the Atlantic season’s most active months, reducing warning lead times for tens of millions of coastal residents.
No interim replacement has been announced before a new Defense weather satellite comes online in October. Lawmakers and former NOAA officials are urging the Pentagon to extend access or fund alternatives, warning that the move risks undoing years of gains in forecast accuracy just as an above-average hurricane season unfolds.
More breaking stories on DeepNewz — updated live.
