Federal officials have announced a delay in the suspension of certain weather data, pushing the original timeline back by a month.
Recently, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) highlighted that the Defense Weather Satellite Program has been gathering weather information from military operations for over 50 years.
In an earlier notification, NOAA indicated, “Recent changes to services will result in the Defense Weather Satellite Program (DMSP) and the Navy’s Fleet Numerical Weather and Oceanography Centre (FNMOC) ceasing the ingestion, processing, and distribution of all DMSP data by June 30, 2025.”
The notification further stated, “The changes and termination of this service will be permanent.”
Rick Spinrad, who previously led NOAA during the Biden administration, expressed to Hill via email that this situation is quite significant.
He mentioned, “I’m being forced earlier than planned to quickly accept data from the DoD’s latest weather satellites.” This presents a serious challenge and could potentially mean that the National Hurricane Center might lack crucial data during the vital hurricane season.
On Monday, NOAA issued a new notification, clarifying that the cancellation of the data services has been postponed for a month. They explained the initial decision stemmed from “cybersecurity risks.”
According to NOAA, “On June 30th, FNMOC planned to discontinue the Monterey system to mitigate critical cybersecurity risks.” Yet, following a request from NASA, the removal was delayed to allow continued processing and distribution of DMSP data until July 31st.
FNMOC now plans to stop DMSP processing by July 31st.
This announcement follows a period of turmoil at the weather agency during the Trump administration, which saw hundreds of NOAA employees dismissed. Subsequently, the National Weather Service reported some offices being “very understaffed” and began to hire more meteorologists.
The United States is currently in the hurricane season, which lasts from June 1st to November 30th.
