Navy Set to Unplug Critical Hurricane Satellites this Week

[douglas9]

The U.S. Navy will permanently cut its stream of data from three weather satellites essential to hurricane forecasters this Thursday, with the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season just weeks away.

As I first reported on June 26th, the U.S. Department of Defense initially gave a five-day notice that the critical satellite data – regularly used by forecasters to assess and predict the location and intensity of hurricanes – would be shut off at the end of June. After swift pushback from other government agencies, including from NASA’s Earth Science Division Director, for what amounted to a no-notice announcement, the Navy postponed the decommission date until the end of July.

Navy officials say they are restricting data access to these three juggernaut weather satellites – some in operation since 2005 – to mitigate a significant cybersecurity risk to the their High-Performance Computing environment. The moratorium notice issued June 30th, however, did not explain how the urgent IT security issue would be resolved through July as critical data continued to flow to NOAA and other end users like the National Hurricane Center.

The loss of data from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) instrument aboard each of the three defense satellites is significant and devastating to U.S. hurricane forecasters and to tropical cyclone forecast agencies around the globe.

The Navy’s Office of Information confirmed the July 31st decommission date with me last Wednesday in the following statement:

https://michaelrlowry.substack.com/p/navy-set-to-unplug-critical-hurricane

[NotHardly]

1. Murder by any other name when people die because there was no advanced notice.

[Cheezoholic]

2. And just like that this data will be available on a pay to play basis to private weather companies. Guaranteed n/t

[NotHardly]

3. Pay for play... the Trump way

[spinbaby]

4. What could possibly go wrong?

SMH

[mwmisses4289]

5. File injunction lawsuit? this data is critical for the safety of the u.s

(isnt that the line these idgits use for something? healthcare for all doesnt impact u.s. safety, but tax cuts for billionaires does).

[bronxiteforever]

6. This is so fucked up. The GOP is surrendering

all of our hard earned common and accessible science and technology .There is no global warming or hurricane or flood if you can’t see it. The masses will be kept ignorant and sick. In order to possess information you must pay technolords.

Billionaires will have their own tech and satellites. Look at what Bezos, Musk and Zuck do.
It will take decades to correct this and the truth is that with climate change at our heels we don’t have much time.

[Silent Type]

7. I think this has been under consideration for years. Here's an article that doesn't make it sound like a hurricane will

sneak up on us unpredicted.


"As the Defense Department transfers greater reliance onto the newly fielded Weather System Follow-on Microwave, or WSF-M, use of the decades-old DMSPs for weather monitoring is being rapidly phased out.

"The WSF-M, a more modern system that can pinpoint developing weather data more exactly, was declared to have reached Initial Operational Capacity this April. The WSF-M, first launched in 2024, can analyze sea ice, soil moisture and snow depth, as well as measure winds and collect cyclone data.

"NOAA will now rely on data and imagery provided by WSF-M as well as the Electro-Optical Weather System, or EWS, to replace the DMSP data, according to its July release.

"“DMSP satellites remain operational today but are more than a decade past their expected end of life,” the release said."

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2025/07/03/navy-to-stop-sharing-satellite-weather-data-with-noaa/