While the start of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season has been quiet, experts are forecasting activity to begin to pick up through the heart of summer. However, they will unfortunately be working without a crucial system of satellites that have played a major role in hurricane forecasting in previous years.  

What's happening?

According to a press release from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center will no longer be sharing satellite weather data with the agency. As of July 31, the FNMOC will "discontinue ingesting, processing, and distribution of all Defense Meteorological Satellite Program data to NOAA." 

The DMSP is a U.S. Department of Defense program that typically provides global weather and space weather data to support military operations. DMSP satellites have spent years collecting data on cloud cover and atmospheric conditions to transmit it to ground stations for processing and analysis. 

As noted by the release, "this service change and termination will be permanent" by the end of July. In a June 30 update, NOAA added that a desire to "mitigate a significant cybersecurity risk to the High-Performance Computing environment" was behind the service's shutdown. 

Why is the removal of Defense Meteorological Satellite Program data important?

Despite the change in policy, NOAA has remained confident in its ability to accurately forecast hurricane development. 

"While the discontinuation of certain data streams from DMSP may seem alarming, the transition to WSF-M and EWS represents a modernization effort aimed at providing more resilient and enhanced environmental monitoring capabilities to improve our ability to understand and predict weather phenomena, including tropical cyclones," NOAA said.

The DMSP had worked to provide real-time microwave data from three active weather satellites.  This program has been crucial for accurately pinpointing storm centers and detecting rapid intensification, especially at night. 

WSF-M, or Weather System Follow-on Microwave, works as microwave sensors measure ocean surface winds, tropical cyclone intensity, and energetic charged particles. At the same time, EWS, or Electro-Optical Weather System, will utilize electro-optical infrared sensors to provide visual imagery to help anticipate weather patterns and understand cloud cover.

Michael Lowry, a Hurricane Specialist for WPLG-TV in Miami, has remained skeptical that the switch to WSF-M will be enough to prepare for what is expected to be a highly active hurricane season. 

"The whole thing raises more questions than it answers. The satellites work," Lowry noted on a social media post. 

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"Why not keep the data flowing to the scientists who use them to forecast some of the deadliest storms on earth? And no one WSF-M satellite doesn't solve this and right now we don't have access to that data regardless," added Lowry. 

What's being done about the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season?

Just before the start of the hurricane season, meteorologists predicted that we could see up to 17 named storms this year, which is well above the average of 14. Of those 17 storms, experts are forecasting the possibility of up to five major hurricanes. This could pose a major threat to coastal communities that have felt the brunt of previous Atlantic hurricane seasons.  

Although hurricane experts are feeling added pressure after the discontinuation of the DMSP, tech companies are touting new breakthroughs in hurricane forecasting technology. In June, Google announced the launch of its Weather Lab. Using artificial intelligence-based weather models, Google claims that the tech will provide experimental cyclone predictions. 

As part of its announcement, Google also revealed its partnership with the U.S. National Hurricane Center to help support future forecasts and warnings regarding cyclone risks in the Atlantic and East Pacific basins. 

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