A piece of very bad news for those of us who live in the hurricane region of the United States was released this past week. The U.S. Department of Defense announced it would immediately stop ingesting, processing, and transmitting data essential to most hurricane forecasts. This data is essential to accurate forecasting of hurricane conditions because it allows forecasters to see the structure of the storm in data-sparse areas, especially when the storms are masked by darkness or clouds. According to Local 10, “The news on Wednesday 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. Though not immediately clear why the real-time data was suddenly discontinued, the decision appears to have stemmed from Department of Defense security concerns. Officials at the National Hurricane Center were also caught off guard by the announcement and are preparing their team for the loss of critical forecast data for the rest of the hurricane season.” If this loss is not reversed, we can expect to see a decrease in the accuracy of hurricane forecasts in 2025 and beyond. This would be very bad for emergency managers, farmers, and other who rely on accurate path and intensity forecasts to prepare for storms that are headed their way.
You can read more about it at https://www.local10.com/weather/hurricane/2025/06/26/critical-hurricane-forecast-tool-abruptly-terminated/.
