Just weeks before the peak of hurricane season, the Trump administration has halted transmission of key satellite data used to predict storm intensity and track, prompting warnings that the move could "cascade into poorer forecasts" and leave coastal communities more vulnerable.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Defense declared it would stop processing and transmitting microwave data collected from a trio of weather satellites jointly operated with NOAA, Local 10 News reported. These satellites provide crucial scans used by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) and others to detect storm structure, estimate intensity and track development over oceans where on-the-ground observations are limited or nonexistent.
