The government cuts key data used in hurricane forecasting, and experts sound an alarm
NOAA spokesperson Kim Doster, in a statement, called it a 'routine process of data rotation and replacement' and said that the remaining data sources 'are fully capable of providing a complete set of cutting-edge data and models that ensure the gold-standard weather forecasting the American people deserve.'
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Traditional visible or infrared satellites provide data that becomes images showing the structure, intensity and temperature of a storm, according to NOAA information, along with features such as lightning. But those miss the three-dimensional details of a storm. The microwave data gives critical information that can't be gleaned from the conventional satellites, and helps peer under a regular image of a hurricane or a tropical cyclone to see what is going on inside of it. It is especially helpful at night.
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The news is especially noteworthy during the ongoing hurricane season and as lesser storms have become more frequent, deadly and costly as climate change is worsened by the burning of fossil fuels.
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Microwave imagery allows researchers and forecasters to see the center of the storm. Experts say that can help in detecting the rapid intensification of storms and in more accurately plotting the likely path of dangerous weather.
'If a hurricane, let's say, is approaching the Gulf Coast, it's a day away from making landfall, it's nighttime,' said Union of Concerned Scientists science fellow Marc Alessi. 'We will no longer be able to say, OK, this storm is definitely undergoing rapid intensification, we need to update our forecasts to reflect that.'
Other microwave data will be available but only roughly half as much, hurricane specialist Michael Lowry said in a blog post. He said that greatly increases the odds that forecasters will miss rapid intensification, underestimate intensity or misplace the storm.
That '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,' he said.
University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy called the loss of data 'alarmingly bad news' in a post on Bluesky.
'Microwave data are already relatively sparse, so any loss — even gradual as satellites or instruments fail — is a big deal; but to abruptly end three active functioning satellites is insanity.'
NOAA and its National Weather Service office have been the target of several cuts and changes in President Donald Trump's second term. The Department of Government Efficiency gutted the agency's workforce, local field offices and funding.
Already, hurricane forecasts were anticipated to be less accurate this year because weather balloons launches have been curtailed because of the lack of staffing.
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'What happened this week is another attempt by the Trump administration to sabotage our weather and climate infrastructure,' Alessi said.
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