As of Monday 30 June The US Department of Defense will no longer provide satellite weather data leaving hurricane forecasters without crucial information about storms as peak hurricane season looms in the Atlantic.

https://www.npr.org/2025/06/28/nx-s1-5446120/defense-department-cuts-hurricane-ice-weather-satellite

For more than 40 years, the Defense Department has operated satellites that collect information about conditions in the atmosphere and ocean. A group within the Navy, called the Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center, processes the raw data from the satellites, and turns it over to scientists and weather forecasters who use it for a wide range of purposes including real-time hurricane forecasting and measuring sea ice in polar regions.

This week, the Department of Defense announced that it would no longer provide that data, according to a notice published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA.

The message said:

due to recent service changes” the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) will “discontinue ingest, processing and distribution of all DMSP data no later than June 30, 2025”.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/28/noaa-cuts-hurricane-forecasting-climate

Due to their unique characteristics and ability to map the entire world twice a day with extremely high resolution, the three DMSP satellites are a primary source of information for scientists to monitor Arctic sea ice and hurricane development. The DMSP partners with NOAA to make weather data collected from the satellites publicly available.

The loss of DMSP comes as NOAA’s weather and climate monitoring services have become critically understaffed this year as Donald Trump’s so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) initiative has instilled draconian cuts to federal environmental programs.

Some sources suggest that cybersecurity concerns over sharing high-resolution data derived from military satellite systems with civilian researchers may also be in play as well.

A current NOAA scientist who wishes to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation said that the action to halt the DMSP, when taken in context with other recent moves by the Trump administration, amounted to “a systematic destruction of science”.

Scientists said the decision to halt the DMSP will result in immediately degraded hurricane forecasts during what is expected to be an above-average season as well as a gap in monitoring sea ice – just as Arctic sea ice is hitting new record lows.

Meanwhile, in the wake of the catastrophic flooding in Kerr County Texas on 4th July that has claimed the lives of 80 people, including 21 children, with another 11 still missing from Camp Mystic - a Christian summer camp for girls - there have been recriminations from local Texas officials over the quality of the weather forecasting supplied by the NWS (National Weather Service) in advance of the intense rain storms

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/doge-nws-cuts-texas-flood-b2783357.html

Mother Jones  and other sources however report:

“But according to a new report in the New York Times, there were serious inadequacies in both preparation for and the emergency response to the natural disaster. In part, apparently because of staffing shortages at the National Weather Service (NWS) prompted by Trump’s and Elon Musk’s dismantling of the federal government. Housed within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) at the Department of Commerce, the NWS provides forecasts, weather warnings, and climate data that are used to help local and state officials protect communities in the face of weather disasters. Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) invaded NOAA earlier this year, and hundreds of forecasters were reportedly fired; another 1,000 reportedly took buyout offers.

According to the Times, the San Angelo office of the NWS was lacking a senior hydrologist, staff forecaster, and top meteorologist. The nearby San Antonio office also had vacancies for a warning coordination meteorologist and science officer, roles that are designed to work with local officials to plan for floods. The Times reports that the warning coordination meteorologist left after taking the early retirement offer that the Trump administration has used across agencies to try to shed staff, citing a person with knowledge of that worker’s departure. “

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/07/tragedy-strikes-texas-and-some-experts-blame-trump-cuts-for-devastation/

9 minutes ago, toucana said:

there have been recriminations from local Texas officials over the quality of the weather forecasting supplied by the NWS (National Weather Service) in advance of the intense rain storms

Which is blame-shifting, since the forecast was accurate. The alert efforts are what fell short.