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A comment on Hurricane forecasters scrambling after sudden shutdown of key satellites.

Re:Hurricane forecasters scrambling after sudden shutdown of... by BenjiWiebe on Thursday June 26, 2025 @08:11PM (#44392697)
The forecasters maybe should have prepared for this, considering Congress voted to terminate the DMSP program in 2015.

The last DMSP launch was in 2024, but that one failed already. The previous launch was in 2009, and that one is still working.

Does anyone know what the DMSP satellites provided for hurricane forecasting that the 4th gen GOES satellites and the JPSS satellites can't do?

Note: I do think that shutting the program down suddenly when there are still some functioning satellites is a bad idea. But this program was very near it's end of life already.

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Re:Hurricane forecasters scrambling after sudden shutdown of... by BenjiWiebe on Thursday June 26, 2025 @08:13PM (#44392709)
Actually even the picture used in the article is from a GOES satellite.
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Re:Hurricane forecasters scrambling after sudden shutdown of... by ahns on Thursday June 26, 2025 @09:50PM (#44393123)
I suppose so, but this message from NOAA (https://www.ospo.noaa.gov/data/messages/2025/06/MSG_20250625...) shows a period of five days til shutdown, which seems extremely abrupt.
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Re:Hurricane forecasters scrambling after sudden shutdown of... by Neywiny on Thursday June 26, 2025 @10:12PM (#44393187)
You mean they should've forecasted it?
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Re:Hurricane forecasters scrambling after sudden shutdown of... by bbarnett on Thursday June 26, 2025 @10:43PM (#44393298)
A quietness descends upon the forest. Crickets cease. Birds stop their song. Even the very leaves stop rustling in the wind.

In the eerie silence, a small bespeckled man approaches you, smiles and hands you a trophy.

You look upon the plaque. It reads "You Bastard"

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Re:Hurricane forecasters scrambling after sudden shutdown of... by Neywiny on Friday June 27, 2025 @05:13PM (#44400300)
Just an easy joke, bud
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Re:Hurricane forecasters scrambling after sudden shutdown of... by bbarnett on Friday June 27, 2025 @07:47PM (#44401315)
No worries, the "You bastard" was affectionately given, with mirth.
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Re:Hurricane forecasters scrambling after sudden shutdown of... by tw04 on Friday June 27, 2025 @01:16AM (#44393876)
> The forecasters maybe should have prepared for this

Prepared how exactly? Developed a whole new branch of science that doesn’t currently exist? Raised a billion dollars to launch some satellites everyone expected a functioning government to take care of?

You might as well be telling the guy that just got shot he should try being more bulletproof.

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Re:Hurricane forecasters scrambling after sudden shutdown of... by potato3732842 on Friday June 27, 2025 @10:02AM (#44396884)
>Prepared how exactly? Developed a whole new branch of science that doesn’t currently exist? Raised a billion dollars to launch some satellites everyone expected a functioning government to take care of?

Get off the legacy platform and onto the new platform like they were given a decade of warning to do. The JPSS satellites are supposed to be providing the info used to do this job.

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