Critical Hurricane Forecasting Tool Gets Abruptly Axed

Miami’s ABC affiliate reports:

On Monday, the U.S. Department of Defense announced it would immediately stop ingesting, processing, and transmitting data essential to most hurricane forecasts. The announcement was formalized on Tuesday when NOAA distributed a service change notice to all users, including the National Hurricane Center, that by next Monday, June 30th, they would no longer receive real-time microwave data collected aboard three weather satellites jointly run by NOAA and the U.S. Department of Defense.

The permanent discontinuation of data from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager Sounder (SSMIS) will severely impede and degrade hurricane forecasts for this season and beyond, affecting tens of millions of Americans who live along its hurricane-prone shorelines. The news on Tuesday sent users across the weather and climate community – including those monitoring changes to sea ice extent in the polar regions – scrambling to understand the rationale behind the abrupt termination.

Read the full article.

A huge blow was dealt to hurricane forecasters this week as a critical tool was abruptly terminated by @DeptofDefense and @NOAA. The immediate discontinuation of data from 3 weather satellites will severely impact hurricane forecasts this season and beyond https://t.co/0Zk92kjKNB pic.twitter.com/FRbf5LKi55

— Michael Lowry (@MichaelRLowry) June 26, 2025