1. United States
2. Mass.
3. Letter

NOAA Proposes Permanently Closing Premiere Hurricane Research Institute In its proposed 2026 budget released Monday, NOAA closes all federally funded weather and climate research labs, including the one responsible for maintaining the nation’s top hurricane models Only days after the U.S. Department of Defense abruptly announced the immediate termination of satellite data critical to hurricane forecasts – granted a moratorium early Monday through July – NOAA posted details of its 2026 budget request to Congress, which closes more than a dozen world-class weather and climate facilities across the U.S., including Miami’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory and its Hurricane Research Division, institutions responsible for most of the advancements in hurricane forecasting and science over the past 50 years. Though budget estimates released by the White House at the end of May outlined draconian cuts to critical NOAA programs, the details released on Monday by NOAA confirm a catastrophic hit for the nation’s hurricane forecasting capabilities if approved by Congress. Please don’t let this happen. People will die. We need to have this data, and this institution.