NOAA Lost a Vital Storm Tracker Just in Time for Hurricane Season

You might not have known it, but the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, has been using Saildrones in recent years to collect real-time data that helps scientists forecast the paths of hurricanes and their intensity, and all with incredible accuracy.

Saildrones are pretty much exactly what they sound like: driverless, robotic boats that can sail straight into terrifying storms to record and deliver valuable data that helps meteorologists determine whether you need to hightail it out of a hurricane’s cone of death.

But thanks to bureaucratic idiocy, the 2025 hurricane season will be without one of its most vital tools. According to anonymous agency insiders, NOAA sent out its request for contract proposals so late that Saildrone, the California-based company behind the tech, couldn’t even bid, much less pre-deploy its hurricane-fighting fleet.

NOAA’s official line is that they’re “exploring other uncrewed systems” and “preparing” for future deployments in 2026. But that does little to soothe fears, especially since hurricane season started on June 1 and forecasts point to above-average activity.

A snafu like this should not be surprising if you’ve been paying attention. Since Trump came into office and Elon’s DOGE stooges initiated their indiscriminate crusade against ill-defined governmental waste, the National Weather Service and NOAA have both endured massive staffing cuts, budget slashes, and training restrictions. The National Weather Service alone has lost over 10 percent of its workforce. And now, Trump’s 2026 budget wants to gut NOAA’s funding by another $1.6 billion, just as hurricane season ramps up.

Meteorologists are not going to have direct access to data regarding a hurricane’s winds near the surface of the ocean and the temperatures of the warm water that fuels it. Instead, they’ll have to rely on the government’s aerial fleet of data-gathering storm drones, some of which are brand-new and untested.