Meteorologists who predict hurricanes will soon lose access to critical satellite data of the US Army, which are vital to monitoring hurricanes overnight and preventing the phenomenon that experts once called “morning surprise” when they were “stunned”.

The Pentagon said on Monday that it would wait until the end of July before stopping the data, giving a one -month extension to initial planning amid concerns.

When the sun sets over a tropical cyclone, meteorologists usually continue to monitor its tension and evolution by observing microwave frequencies through the Ministry of Defense satellites. However, the Pentagon said it would stop publicizing this data “at the latest” by July 31, according to a statement from the National Ocean and atmosphere (NOAA) on Monday.

The announcement said the Ministry of Defense was addressed by Karen St. Germain, Director of the Department of Geosciences of NASA. Scientists initially had less than a week to prepare for the loss of microwave data.

However, some meteorologists are concerned that even July is too early, as experts warn that the loss of this data could lead to prognostic opportunities decades back.

Many scientists argue that microwave data is more valuable than ever, at a time when cyclones are increasingly reinforced, as they are converted from tropical storms or cyclones Class 1 into powerful 4 or 5 class cyclones within a few hours, often just before.

“This is an extremely useful set of data that provides many details and works at night,” said Robert Rohde, a lead scientist at Berkeley Earth. The loss of microwave data “will probably lead to cases where we will not be prepared for rapid reinforcement,” he added.

This is the newest decision of the Trump government that is causing concern for meteorologists, who estimate that the US is now less prepared for the prognosis and monitoring of extreme weather than six months ago. The NOAA and the National Meteorological Service (NWS) have lost hundreds of meteorologists and other geoscients in recent months, as the US Doge Service has reduced contracts and early retirements. So many employees left that NWS was forced to rebuild staff. The organization has recently received an exception from the freezing freezing to fill critical gaps in prognosis centers.

The government also proceeded last week to abolish the website and accounts on the social media of Climate.gov, through which news, research and explanations were published on how climate change caused by fossil fuel emissions and the greenhouse effect. The administration said that the relevant investigations will now be published on Noaa.gov/Climate.

Ministry of Defense Ministry’s microwave data and other land observation satellites have helped researchers understand how global warming favors rapid reinforcement of tropical storms.

Microwaves are a form of radiation with a wavelength longer than visible light or infrared, but smaller than radio waves. In microwave ovens, the waves make water molecules vibrate, warming the food.

By observing the microwave radiation that comes from the surface of the earth – and the way it interacts with water – scientists can identify where and how strongly the water is distributed. This allows them to “see” where the clouds are and how the inner structure of a thunderstorm such as the eye of a cyclone and wind patterns around it.

Meteorologists have been using microwave observations to monitor the evolution of tropical cyclones since the late 1990s.

NOAA spokesman Kim Doster said that microwave data “constitute a single set of data within a powerful cyclone prognosis and modeling tools”, which also includes satellite data in infrared and visible light, as well as ground observations, floats and meteorologists.

In addition, Noaa’s Joint Polar Satellite System there is an instrument that collects microwave data: Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder.

“NOAA’s sources are fully capable of providing a comprehensive set of top data and models that ensure the prognosis of high -quality weather deserved by Americans,” Doster said.

However, meteorologists have said the loss of data collected by three military satellites, through bodies called Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder, means that microwave observations will be much more sparse. It takes many hours to cover the planet satellites from low orbit such as they or the Global Precipitation Measurement in the US and Japan.

With fewer satellites collecting microwave observations, significantly longer between each scan of a particular storm, Kim Wood, Associate Professor of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Arizona, said.

In addition to their critical importance for the prognosis of cyclones, microwaves are also important for the study of changes in global ice and marine ice.

In a post on Substack, James Franklin, a former head of the Special Cyclone Unit of the National Cyclone Center, said there was no “practical alternative” to meteorologists using military satellites. He predicted that the loss of data would have a chain impact on the predictions of the course and intensity of tropical systems, such as delayed aid updates.

This will particularly increase the risks to populations in the Caribbean, Central America and Mexico, where recognition aircraft are much more rare for immediate observations, Franklin wrote.

“Traditional meteorological satellites are useful, but they do not allow meteorologists to see under the clouds to perceive critical internal changes that can warn them of rapidly reinforcement episodes,” Michael Lowry’s Substack Substack posted on a separate post. News in Miami.

The decision to delay the termination of access to military satellite data did not reassure Kim Wood, who said he did not expect meteorologists to find a solution quickly. For example, when the Global Precipitation Monitoring began, it took about a year until scientists stopped using data from the previous satellite.

This extra time has allowed scientists to ensure that they are ready to process data from the new organs.