Rare sea creatures spotted off the coast in stunning encounters. See 9 stories
World Rare sea creatures spotted off the coast in stunning encounters. See 9 stories
From the entanglement of Shelagh, a critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, to the awe-inspiring appearance of the first blue whale of the season, these events have stunned onlookers and experts.
Read the stories below.
A massive sea creature drew crowds when its carcass washed up on a California beach in the first reported death of the year. By Brian Baer
NO. 1: HUGE SEA CREATURE WASHES UP ON CA COAST IN FIRST REPORTED DEATH THIS YEAR, EXPERTS SAY
'This is the time of year where (the creatures) are headed back to Alaska from Mexico.... And sometimes they die.' | Published April 22, 2024 | Read Full Story by Brooke Baitinger
A North Atlantic right whale entangled in fishing gear was recently spotted off the coast of Canada, officials said. Photo from NOAA
NO. 2: HUGE SEA CREATURE GETS ENTANGLED IN FISHING GEAR — FOR 2ND TIME — OFF CANADA, GROUP SAYS
It belongs to one of the most endangered species of whales in the world, officials said. | Published May 14, 2024 | Read Full Story by Brendan Rascius
Researchers are seen measuring and taking samples from the humpback whale May 27 in Nehalem Bay State Park in Oregon. NOAA Fisheries, permit 24359
NO. 3: HUMPBACK WHALE WASHES ASHORE OREGON BEACH. ITS DEATH IS A MYSTERY, OFFICIALS SAY
The whale was found as officials investigate tar that's been appearing on Oregon and Washington shorelines. | Published May 28, 2024 | Read Full Story by Helena Wegner
Blue whales are the largest creatures to ever live on planet Earth. They are also endangered. NOAA Fisheries
NO. 4: MASSIVE WHALE THE SIZE OF A MULTI-STORY BUILDING STUNS CA ONLOOKERS, VIDEO SHOWS
A football team could stand on its tongue without falling off, experts say. | Published June 24, 2024 | Read Full Story by Julia Daye
Humpback whales seem playful to humans, but they are clever and ruthless predators to schooling fish in the North Atlantic. Photo by Karl-Heinz Müller on Unsplash
NO. 5: 'HUNGRY' SEA CREATURES LUNGE THROUGH BUBBLE CLOUDS FOR MOUTHFULS OF PREY. SEE THEM
They were 'bulking up to withstand their long lean winter months.' | Published July 17, 2024 | Read Full Story by Julia Daye
Researchers spotted an extremely rare whale Nov. 17 off the coast of New Jersey, according to a Cape May Whale Watch and Research Center Facebook post. Screengrab from Cape May Whale Watch and Research Center Facebook post
NO. 6: 'ENORMOUS' RARE CREATURE WITH 'STOCKY BLACK BODY' SPOTTED OFF NJ COAST, EXPERTS SAY
Experts say there are about 370 of the species left. | Published November 18, 2024 | Read Full Story by Natalie Demaree
Researchers identified a North American right whale mom by her lighthouse-shaped pattern when she was spotted with a calf off Sapelo Island, Georgia, on Dec. 1. Getty Images/iStockphoto
NO. 7: RARE SEA CREATURE — AND BABY — SPOTTED OFF GEORGIA COAST IN A FIRST OF CALVING SEASON
There are fewer than 400 left in the wild, experts estimate. | Published December 3, 2024 | Read Full Story by Olivia Lloyd
Researchers caught all 26 members of the J pod on camera, including a baby. Getty Images/iStockphoto
NO. 8: BABY KILLER WHALE SEEN BOUNCING AND ROLLING OFF WASHINGTON. SEE THE PEACHY ORANGE CALF
The Southern Resident killer whale calf is 'among the world's most endangered marine mammals.' | Published February 18, 2025 | Read Full Story by Helena Wegner
A Bigg's killer whale calf is seen swimming alongside its mom in the Salish Sea off Washington. Caio Ribeiro Eagle Wing Tours / Pacific Whale Watch Association
NO. 9: KILLER WHALE BECOMES MOM FOR FIRST TIME. SEE HER 'LITTLE PUMPKIN' SWIM OFF WASHINGTON
Photos show the baby's fetal folds, a whale watching group said. | Published March 26, 2025 | Read Full Story by Helena Wegner
The summary above was drafted with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists in our News division. All stories listed were reported, written and edited by McClatchy journalists.
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17 minutes ago
Hurricane season is here and meteorologists are losing a vital tool for forecasting them
Meteorologists are losing a sophisticated tool that many say has proved invaluable when monitoring and forecasting hurricanes. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced in a service change notice this week that it would be ending the importing, processing and distribution of data from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager Sounder (SSMIS). "This service change and termination will be permanent," wrote NOAA. The SSMIS instruments are part of three weather satellites in low-Earth orbit and are maintained by NOAA in cooperation with the United States Department of Defense. The SSMIS provides critical weather information that can't yet be replaced by other satellites and weather instruments, according to NOAA. The tool offers forecasters the ability to examine the inner workings of active tropical systems and understand their behavior. Specifically, SSMIS uses microwaves to penetrate clouds and obtain a clearer picture of the inner structure of a tropical cyclone, including its exact center. Other weather satellites use visible and infrared imagery, which can only capture surface-level details of the cloud tops rather than what's happening inside the cyclone. These satellites are also ineffective after sunset when it's too dark to see and when direct observations over open water are scarce. Forecasters, therefore, rely on the data collected from the SSMIS system during these periods. The SSMIS data not only allows forecasters to better monitor the current progress of a tropical cyclone but also to identify the center of the system for weather forecast models. Weather forecast models are sensitive to initial weather conditions and rely on multiple sources of accurate weather data for forecasting. Any degradation or discontinuity in the data, whether in terms of quality or quantity, could negatively affect the model's forecasting skill, scientists warn. While there is other microwave data available to forecasters, SSMIS accounts for almost half of all microwave instruments, which would dramatically reduce the data available to forecasters. In a worst-case scenario, forecasters say it could lead to missing a tropical system that intensifies overnight, which would not be apparent from using infrared satellite imagery alone. The SSMIS system is part of the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP), which is operated by NOAA on behalf of the Defense Department's Space Force, which has satellite control authority. The DMSP program focuses on the design, development, launch, and maintenance of satellites that track weather patterns, oceanic conditions and solar-terrestrial physics. A Space Force official told ABC News the U.S. Navy is responsible for processing the SSMIS data and providing it to NOAA and they are referring all questions about the decision to the Navy, which did not immediately respond to ABC News' request for comment. In a statement, a Space Force official wrote that "satellites and instruments are still functional." The official added that Department of Defense users, including the Navy, "will continue to receive and operationally use DMSP data sent to weather satellite direct readout terminals across the DoD." Scientists from around the country, meanwhile, expressed their concerns about the decision, stating that it will negatively impact the weather community's capabilities and accuracy in tracking life-threatening cyclones. Matthew Cappucci, an atmospheric scientist and senior meteorologist at @MyRadarWX wrote on X, "Please be aware that this change can and will have a negative impact on the forecasts relied upon by Americans living in hurricane-prone areas." Michael Lowry, a hurricane specialist at ABC affiliate WPLG in Miami, wrote on his Substack blog, "The permanent discontinuation of data from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager Sounder (SSMIS) will severely impede and degrade hurricane forecasts for this season and beyond, affecting tens of millions of Americans who live along its hurricane-prone shorelines." And Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher at the University of Miami, wrote on Bluesky that "For anyone near a hurricane-prone area, this is alarmingly bad news." Space Force told ABC News that while the U.S. Navy's Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center (FNMOC) "is making a change on their end, the posture on sharing DMSP data has not changed," noting that NOAA has been making DMSP data publicly available, and that many non-Defense Department entities use this data.
Miami Herald
11 hours ago
- Miami Herald
Shorebirds in Florida are losing habitat. Living shorelines are part of the solution
Editor's note: Before this story was published, Shiloh Schulte, a senior shorebird scientist with Manomet Conservation Sciences, died in a helicopter crash while in Alaska doing conservation work. Schulte coordinated the American Oystercatcher Working Group, the multi-state species recovery partnership to which Florida belongs. Even as populations dwindle for hundreds of bird species across the United States, there are some success stories taking flight: like for the American oystercatcher, one of Florida's most iconic — and threatened — shorebirds. Compared to 15 years ago, the oystercatcher population that breeds along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts is up 43%, according to the American Bird Conservancy. There are nearly 15,000 oystercatchers in North America today,compared to about 10,000 in 2008, according to Shiloh Schulte, a former senior shorebird scientist with Manomet Conservation Sciences. It's a welcome outlier in the world of shorebird conservation, Schulte said. 'Shorebirds, as a species group, are declining rapidly. And oystercatchers are one of the few that's not.' Schulte first began working with American oystercatchers in the early 2000s, when he participated in an expansive aerial survey of North American shorebirds revealing the species was at risk. 'We flew the whole coast, the Atlantic coast and then the Gulf, in a little Cessna at about 400 feet up.' The initial national survey revealed oystercatchers were threatened by habitat loss, Schulte said. The species doesn't move inland, depending on coastal habitats and forage to survive. Before long, Schulte started coordinating the multi-state working group credited for helping drive oystercatchers' gains since 2008. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is involved in the working group, and so is the Florida Shorebird Alliance, a statewide network of local partnerships focused on shorebird and seabird conservation. Within the network, volunteers contribute to the state's long-term monitoring data by helping survey and count bird populations throughout the year. Volunteer David Hartgrove was one of the FSA's very first members. Today, Hartgrove is co-conservation chair for Halifax River Audubon, one of three Audubon Florida chapters in Volusia County. For about 20 years now, Hartgrove has been monitoring oystercatchers who nest on the Halifax River in Port Orange, he said one June morning from a pavilion at Port Orange Causeway Park. Steps away from the park's fishing pier and boat launch, Hartgrove uses a spotting scope — basically, a telescope — to view nesting oystercatchers on three spoil islands (one of which is a state-designated Critical Wildlife Area). 'If I've got oystercatchers that I know are incubating eggs over here, I'll be here three or four times a week, at least,' Hartgrove said. Right now, in late June, most young oystercatchers have hatched and are getting ready to fly. Holding onto habitat Looking collectively at all the years he's been tracking oystercatchers in Port Orange, Hartgrove said, the population appears relatively stable. 'It's not going up, it's not going down. It's pretty much staying the same all the time,' Hartgrove said. An oystercatcher parent and two chicks stand on a spoil island serving as a nesting site in Mosquito Lagoon, the northernmost section of the Indian River Lagoon, on May 27, 2025. That's despite a range of threats facing shorebirds in Florida, from predators and human interference to nest overwash from storms and rising high tides. On the Nature Coast, which draws in the largest concentration of wintering oystercatchers each year, longer-lasting high tides corresponded with a 7.3% decline in annual survival over 12 years, according to a 2023 study by FWC researchers. Co-author Janell Brush with FWC's Fish and Wildlife Research Institute leads the agency's research on seabirds and shorebirds. For Brush, the study's results underscore what she said is her biggest concern for oystercatchers in Florida: habitat loss. 'With the tides getting higher and higher, less habitat is available for oystercatchers at high tide,' Brush said. 'With the degradation of coastal habitats due to repeated storms and erosion, we've been focusing our attention more on: how can we restore and enhance the habitats where these birds want to be?' Ideally, oystercatchers will return to the same nesting site year after year, preferably while keeping their distance from other oystercatchers (although if the habitat is just too good to pass up, like at Cedar Key, they'll begrudgingly nest in closer quarters together, Brush said). But as Florida becomes increasingly developed, especially near the coast, prime nesting habitat is getting harder to come by. 'The more developed an area you have, the less suitable habitat that you have that's available for species like oystercatchers to nest,' Brush said. Oystercatchers like to nest in low-lying coastal areas, above the high tide line. And it's especially key for their nesting habitat to be near a food source, which for oystercatchers is primarily (and perhaps unsurprisingly) oysters. 'The closer that food source is to the oystercatchers and oystercatcher chicks, the more likely those chicks are going to survive,' Brush said. Unlike most shorebird babies, young oystercatchers can't feed themselves right away. They need time to learn their parents' technique for cracking open mollusk shells, and for their beaks to grow long enough to do so. In the meantime, oystercatcher parents take turns watching their young and foraging for food nearby — which, in Central Florida, usually means a trip to the nearest oyster reef. Supporting a 'habitat mosaic' Globally, a majority of oyster habitats have been lost, due largely to decades of overharvesting and coastal urbanization. Reflecting this trend, the Indian River Lagoon has lost about 63% of its oyster reef acreage since 1943, according to Linda Walters, a marine biology professor at the University of Central Florida. Since 2007, Walters and the lab she runs at UCF have been working to restore oyster reefs in the lagoon's northernmost section, the Mosquito Lagoon. Boating activity and sea level rise have caused damage, breaking up reefs into smaller pieces and reducing the estuary's overall oyster coverage. That loss can have big consequences for a complex marine ecosystem like the Indian River Lagoon. 'Oysters filter the water. They make it so the seagrass can thrive, which makes it so the fish can thrive, and the crabs, the other invertebrates,' Walters said. To put it simply, more oysters means a healthier lagoon. That, in turn, is as good for ecotourism as it is for shorebirds who depend on the estuary for habitat and to forage for food, Walters said. 'The more good habitat we have, the more birds we'll have,' Walters said. The oyster reef restorations led by Walters and completed in collaboration with local conservation and community partners have translated to documented habitat improvements in and around the Mosquito Lagoon, according to UCF. But this work supporting the estuary's 'habitat mosaic,' as Walters calls it, hasn't stopped with oyster reefs. Seagrass restoration is the newest layer of Walters's conservation work, which in 2011 also began to include living shoreline projects. Living shorelines are a type of green infrastructure technique, using native vegetation and other natural materials to stabilize shorelines against erosion while enhancing biodiversity, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Walters described it as 'the least destructive way to protect a shoreline.' 'We are trying to get it back to what it was naturally,' Walters said. 'So as opposed to using any sort of hard armoring, [like] a seawall or putting really large rocks out, this is the low-tech way to protect your shoreline.' Seawalls, living shorelines and hybrid solutions Seawalls are hard structures, usually made of concrete or metal, installed along shorelines to protect against erosion. They can be very effective at stabilizing coastal areas, at least for a time. But seawalls also have some big drawbacks, including for wildlife habitat, according to Jason Evans, an ecologist by training who runs Stetson University's Institute for Water and Environmental Resilience. 'We've simplified these ecosystems,' Evans said. 'We've gone in and destroyed enormous amounts of coastal wetlands in Florida, [by] putting in these seawalls.' Shorebirds tend to avoid seawalls and other man-made structures built to defend shorelines from sea level rise and erosion, according to some studies, including one from the United States Geological Survey. Some creatures, like barnacles, can survive on a seawall. But generally, the hard-armoring technique tends to make marine ecosystems less productive, Evans said. 'They're very poor habitat, compared to what the natural habitat would be.' Hardening a shoreline can displace important organisms, like oysters, which are in themselves 'natural stabilizers of shorelines,' Evans said. In the long-term, seawalls can actually make erosion worse, especially along sandy beaches, where waves crashing against one side of the seawall can scour out sand on the other side. 'You oftentimes will lose your beach a lot faster because of the seawall,' Evans said. A quarter of Florida's seawall permits issued since 2004 are for structures in Volusia County, where Mosquito Lagoon begins, according to a 2024 analysis commissioned by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Mosquito Lagoon stretches south into Brevard County, which prohibits the installation of new shoreline hardening structures except in emergency situations. Good for birds, good for fish — and good for us In certain cases, seawalls might be the best way to stabilize a shoreline, Evans said: such as at a port, where huge waves are constantly rolling in from ship traffic. But generally, he said, living shorelines are a highly effective, more environmentally friendly — and, often, more affordable — solution. '[It's] a win-win,' Evans said. 'We're getting the fisheries back that we want, we're getting the water quality back that we want. We're getting those benefits, and we're also getting the benefit of reduced amounts of erosion.' Hybrid solutions, like a buried seawall, can also be an effective alternative to fully hardening a shoreline, Evans said. For those structures, a hardened seawall serves as the core, buried beneath a sandy dune layer that often features native vegetation more conducive to wildlife habitat. For oystercatchers in the Mosquito Lagoon, a living shoreline can serve as valuable high ground for the birds to roost during high tide, without straying far from the oyster reefs they depend on for food. And a living system of mangroves and marsh grasses comes with another superpower, Evans said: built-in resilience. The native plants' roots help hold sediment from the lagoon in place, effectively allowing the land to 'grow up.' 'Even as the sea rises, then your mangroves can, in theory, keep up with it, because they're grabbing sediments,' Evans said. 'Just like a seawall is engineered, living shorelines are engineered: to stabilize, to withstand storms, and even in some cases to withstand a little bit of sea level rise.' Shorelines and beaches naturally shift over time, drifting and changing shape with the winds and waves. That makes a living shoreline's capacity to adapt to its surroundings — unlike a static seawall — one of its biggest strengths, said Melinda Donnelly, an assistant research scientist and biology professor at UCF who works with Walters. Right now, Donnelly is working on a model to help predict where in the Indian River Lagoon living shorelines are most likely to succeed, based on variables like tidal conditions and wave energy thresholds for different plants. Many previous living shoreline projects have largely relied on trial and error, Donnelly said. The goal is for the model to help maximize time and resources when planning how to stabilize a shoreline, and ultimately 'end up with sort of a combination of methods, rather than just basically hardening every shoreline throughout the lagoon,' Donnelly said. Especially over time, more living shorelines will translate to a healthier lagoon ecosystem overall, Walters said. That means more attractive shorebird habitat. 'It's good for birds, it's good for fish. It's good for commercial species, recreational species,' Walters said. 'It's good for all the plants and just everything in the lagoon. So basically, it means it's good for us.' 'A lot of potential' Moving forward, managing the species' continued recovery in Florida will require prioritizing ways to help nesting oystercatchers. Right now, there are only 419 breeding adults documented statewide, according to Brush with FWC. In 2013, there were also fewer than 500, according to the agency's species action plan. 'Because there's not that many birds, every single nesting pair is important. And every time you get a new nesting pair entering the breeding population, that's huge,' Brush said. Specifically along the Atlantic coast in Central Florida, there is great opportunity to help grow oystercatcher populations, Brush said. 'In general, where we are seeing birds try to enter the breeding population in great numbers [in Florida] is along the Atlantic coast.' But the challenge of habitat loss and degradation persists, especially as Central Florida's coasts are developed and hardened. If more oystercatchers here are to grow and breed successfully, improving habitat conditions will be critical. 'At some point, we will be limited by available habitat,' Brush said. 'There's a lot of potential to grow the population of oystercatchers on the Atlantic coast … if we have some more resources to dedicate toward habitat enhancement and restoration.' While resources are limited, Brush said, FWC is adept at making good use of them. 'We're constantly in FWC keeping the pulse on how species are doing, and where we need to allocate resources where species may not be doing as well.' One huge part of that equation, Brush said, is partnership. The national oystercatcher working group helps foster collaboration between states. 'We watched our local population improve in Florida as part of that network,' Brush said. 'The state of Florida can't do it without our conservation partners.' A culture of partnership will be crucial to continuing American oystercatchers' recovery, according to conservation experts. Although oystercatchers have made promising gains in the last 15 years, the work is by no means over. The (flight) path forward: 'It takes a village' Oystercatchers continue to face existential threats, from predators like rats and raccoons to habitat loss caused by human interference, sea level rise and storms. 'The difference is we as a working group have discovered many of the ways to manage and mitigate many of those threats, as long as we have people in the field doing that work,' Schulte said. That last piece is critical — and a growing concern for wildlife experts like Schulte, as the Trump administration's sweeping 'waste-reduction' measures usher longtime experts out of staff positions and interrupt some grant-funded projects already underway. It's not uncommon for conservation funds to fluctuate between (and sometimes during) presidential administrations, Schulte said. But this time is different. 'There's always uncertainty. It's never been like: 'We're stopping everything,' and no necessary guarantee as to whether it's going back,' Schulte said. 'We haven't seen that before, at all, where a project that's underway gets canceled.' Nationally and within states where oystercatchers breed, including Florida, government agencies are now missing some core personnel who made up the 'bedrock' of shorebird conservation, Schulte said. 'We're seeing it kind of everywhere, especially with state and federal employees, who are usually the most consistent and stable aspect of the group,' Schulte said in late May. 'Some of these people were coordinating multiple sets of volunteers, or out there in the field themselves, doing a lot of this assessment work.' Departing experts take with them a depth of specialized knowledge, often built up over decades of fieldwork and experience. 'It's a huge loss. And it's hard to quantify,' Schulte said. 'It's not universal. But it's very widespread, and it is having significant impacts on our ability to do basic conservation work.' Fewer experienced people in the field means fewer, less robust assessments of shorebird health, Schulte said. 'We actually won't know as much information about how well the birds are doing … or what the challenges are.' Restoring shorebird populations is a long-term commitment, Schulte said. Even in the smoothest of political climates, armed with the newest and best science, conservation experts know their work is bound to involve a certain level of uncertainty. Instead of running away from the inevitable, Brush, with FWC, said she focuses on learning from the (literally) changing tides. 'We need to keep looking for opportunities while we're navigating the uncertainty. 'That uncertainty is always looming,' Brush said. 'When a storm hits, you have to be looking for opportunity as you're evaluating your habitat loss.' Adaptation is no strange concept in a state where hurricanes routinely ravage and refashion coastlines and communities. Still, the ability to quickly pivot and seek out new possible solutions requires a strong foundation, like the network of partners making up the oystercatcher working group. And citizen scientists, like Hartgrove in Port Orange, are also 'absolutely instrumental' to shorebird recovery, Brush said. 'It takes a village,' Brush said. 'There's always opportunities. You just have to look for them.'
New York Post
20 hours ago
- New York Post
Vital hurricane satellites to go dark weeks into Atlantic storm season— and NOAA rips media for causing panic
Vital hurricane-tracking satellites are expected to go dark just weeks into the Atlantic storm season — and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is pointing fingers at the media for fueling panic behind the shutdown while clarifying that crucial data will still be gathered. The Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP), jointly owned by NOAA and the Department of Defense and responsible for critical collecting environmental and weather data, will cease operations Monday amid a string of federal cuts to the administration, the agency announced Wednesday. 'The service change and termination will be permanent,' officials stated in the announcement without providing a reason for ending the crucial service or information about a possible replacement. Advertisement 4 A NOAA spokesperson clarified that a microwave instrument on another satellite will still provide crucial readings. REUTERS A NOAA spokesperson, however, was quick to cast blame on newscasters for 'criticizing' scientists and reporting the service change in a way that could incite public outrage — later clarifying that a microwave instrument on another satellite will still provide crucial readings. 'The DMSP is a single dataset in a robust suit of hurricane forecasting and modeling tools in the NWS portfolio, which also includes microwave sensing data via the recently launched WSF-M satellite, which was the planned replacement for the DPSM program,' Kim Doster told The Post Friday. Advertisement 'The routine process of data rotation and replacement would go unnoticed in past administrations, but the media is insistent on criticizing the great work that NOAA and its dedicated scientists perform every day.' 4 A meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center monitors weather patterns. AFP via Getty Images Despite the terse explanation, experts remain concerned that limited data will hinder efforts to track hurricanes, detect changes in storm structure, and accurately predict a storm's path in real-time. Forecasters depend on polar-orbiting satellites equipped with microwave sensors to track winds speeds and other data connected to intensifying tropical storms and hurricanes — especially at night when other observation methods are limited. Advertisement 'This is an incredibly big hit for hurricane forecasts, and for the tens of millions of Americans who live in hurricane-prone areas,' Michael Lowry, a hurricane specialist in South Florida, told the New York Times. 4 While the military satellites with remain in orbit, their data will not longer be processed by the federal government. REUTERS 'The nightmare scenario is going to bed with a tropical storm and waking up to a hurricane,' he added, explaining that soon-to-be suspended satellite streams are key to preventing a jarring 'sunrise surprise.' With microwave observations also allow meteorologists to locate a storm's center, Lowry warned that being off by even a few miles can have 'huge ramifications.' Advertisement While the military satellites with remain in orbit, their data will not longer be processed by the federal government. 4 NOAA logo on a blue and white surface. AFP /AFP via Getty Images 'We don't want to have less data for no reason,' Andy Hazelton, a hurricane modeling expert at the University of Miami, told the outlet. 'We already don't get as much microwave data as we'd like to see operationally.' The news of the program's suspension came just two days after Tropical Storm Andrea, the first named storm of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season, formed in the central Atlantic Ocean Tuesday morning. Hurricane season typically lasts through the end of November. The White House and Department of Defense did not immediately respond to The Post's request for comment.
