Federal Forecasters Lose Access to Critical Tool as Hurricane Season Begins

Gizmodo

8 hours ago

As Atlantic hurricane season surges to life, federal forecasters must say goodbye to one of their most valuable tools—Saildrones. These uncrewed ships sail into the hearts of tropical storms to collect real-time data that scientists use to predict their strength and path.
For the past four years, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has deployed Saildrones to improve the accuracy of its hurricane forecasts and warnings. The small drone ships have played an especially important role in predicting rapid storm intensification, which drastically increases the extent of a hurricane's impact. This year, however, the California-based company behind Saildrone was 'unable to bid' on a NOAA contract, agency spokesperson Keeley Belva told Gizmodo in an email.
Belva did not say why Saildrone was unable to bid. According to a NOAA employee who spoke with CNN on condition of anonymity, the agency sent out its request for contract proposals too late, preventing Saildrone from bidding and from pre-deploying its fleet to multiple launching ports in the Atlantic and Gulf Coast ahead of hurricane season.
'NOAA continues to explore the use of other uncrewed systems in meeting the agency's data needs within hard-to-access regions of tropical cyclones during the 2025 season,' Belva told Gizmodo. 'The agency is preparing for the use of uncrewed surface vehicle deployments with industry partners for the 2026 season.'
The news adds to growing concerns about the agency's readiness for hurricane season, which officially began on June 1. Since President Donald Trump took office, NOAA has faced sweeping staff cuts, grant freezes, and travel and training restrictions, according to the Associated Press. The agency's National Weather Service (NWS) office alone has lost over 10% of its staff since January, CBS News reported. Now, the Trump administration's 2026 budget proposal threatens to reduce NOAA's budget by $1.6 billion.
Despite the upheaval—and forecasts for above-normal Atlantic hurricane season activity—NOAA representatives say they are prepared. Losing Saildrone, however, marks another significant blow to its forecasting abilities.
According to NOAA, the remotely operated ships are equipped with a suite of instruments that allows them to take multiple concurrent measurements of the environment. They gather data on wind speed, wave height, temperature, pressure, salinity, and, perhaps most importantly, the transfer of heat and moisture between the ocean and the air directly above it. This dynamic plays a critical role in storm intensification. By measuring it, scientists can predict how a hurricane will develop over time.
Saildrones transmit data to forecasters in real time, helping them refine their forecasts and public messaging. This year, NOAA had plans to further improve forecast accuracy by incorporating Saildrones observations directly into forecast models, NOAA oceanographer Gregory Foltz told CNN.
The ships also capture footage from inside hurricanes, producing harrowing live videos of these intense storms. Such powerful imagery may influence peoples' decisions to evacuate by showing how severe storm conditions are, Foltz said.
Without Saildrones, NOAA will have to lean on its aerial storm-tracking tools. These include weather balloons and new lightweight drones launched from the bellies of the agency's two WP-3 hurricane hunter aircraft. The drones—specifically the Black Swift SØ—are designed for rapid atmospheric profiling, capturing data on air temperature, wind speed and direction, dewpoint, and atmospheric pressure. The agency will also deploy StreamSonades, which are tiny biodegradable probes that NOAA can drop from a hurricane hunter aircraft to collect atmospheric measurements as they fall through the storm.
While valuable, these aerial tools can't match Saildrone's ability to provide live storm footage or reliably measure wind and sea surface temperatures over long periods of time. As a scaled-back NOAA puts on a brave face for hurricane season, sidelining Saildrones will strain its resources even further.