Weather forecasters will have an additional month to tap Defense Department satellite data that is widely relied upon for hurricane forecasting, extending a deadline that would have ended National Weather Service access Monday to the information.
The termination of data products from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program was met with fierce criticism from scientists who said it could diminish hurricane forecasting accuracy just as the 2025 storm season is ramping up.
In a statement, NOAA spokesperson Kim Doster said the extension followed a request on Friday from NASA to the removal and to continue processing and distributing data from the DMSP.
The administration now expects to decommission DMSP processing no later than July 31, she said.
