Shutdown blocked researchers from studying historic hurricane Melissa
- - Shutdown blocked researchers from studying historic hurricane Melissa
Dinah Voyles Pulver, USA TODAYNovember 9, 2025 at 4:33 PM
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Scientists working to learn why some tropical storms suddenly intensify to become devastating major hurricanes say it’s important to learn all they can about each one because opportunities to study them are so rare.
So when Melissa became one of the most powerful hurricanes on record during the federal government shutdown, the scientists were beyond frustrated because the extent of their "hurricane hunter" research missions into the turbulent center of the storm were restricted in scope.
Federal flight engineers, pilots and scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration flew multiple harrowing missions into Melissa, along with their research partners, but the federal employees did so without pay. Their paychecks are on hold, but their work – providing crucial data for hurricane forecasting – is considered essential.
However, the crews were not allowed to fly extra flight paths through the hurricane or drop extra research instruments not considered necessary for forecasts.
So Melissa – with some of the most violent winds ever recorded in an Atlantic hurricane – became a critical missed opportunity to learn more about why it behaved differently than other storms, said James Franklin, a retired former branch chief for the hurricane specialists unit at the National Hurricane Center.
Melissa has strengthened into a hurricane in the Caribbean on Oct. 25 and could soon rapidly intensify into a monstrous Category 4 or 5 storm, bringing perilous threats of rain, winds and storm surge to northern Caribbean islands.A drone view shows a vehicle driving along a flooded street amid rain caused by Tropical Storm Melissa, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, October 24, 2025.
" style=padding-bottom:56%>The National Hurricane Center reports Melissa has strengthened into a hurricane in the Caribbean on Oct. 25 and could soon rapidly intensify into a monstrous Category 4 or 5 storm, bringing perilous threats of rain, winds and storm surge to northern Caribbean islands.A drone view shows a vehicle driving along a flooded street amid rain caused by Tropical Storm Melissa, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, October 24, 2025.
" data-src=https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/aVA8Qyd9ruSnZc.PjoJ1Yg--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD04NDc-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/usa_today_slideshows_242/2fffd0cbefcde537d2db56aeee62f442 class=caas-img data-headline="Hurricane Melissa slams the Caribbean. See the floods and impact on residents in photos" data-caption="
The National Hurricane Center reports Melissa has strengthened into a hurricane in the Caribbean on Oct. 25 and could soon rapidly intensify into a monstrous Category 4 or 5 storm, bringing perilous threats of rain, winds and storm surge to northern Caribbean islands.A drone view shows a vehicle driving along a flooded street amid rain caused by Tropical Storm Melissa, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, October 24, 2025.
">The National Hurricane Center reports Melissa has strengthened into a hurricane in the Caribbean on Oct. 25 and could soon rapidly intensify into a monstrous Category 4 or 5 storm, bringing perilous threats of rain, winds and storm surge to northern Caribbean islands.A drone view shows a vehicle driving along a flooded street amid rain caused by Tropical Storm Melissa, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, October 24, 2025.
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1 / 23Hurricane Melissa slams the Caribbean. See the floods and impact on residents in photosA resident stands at a flooded section of Port Royal in Kingston on Oct. 27, 2025. Hurricane Melissa threatened Jamaica with potentially deadly rains after rapidly intensifying into a top-level Category 5 storm, as residents scrambled for shelter from what could be the island's most violent weather on record. Melissa has already been blamed for at least four deaths in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and was set to unleash torrential rains on parts of Jamaica in a direct hit on the Caribbean island.
“The patterns that were flown in Melissa were very basic, the minimal kind of pattern they could do, as simple as possible with as small of a crew as possible,” Franklin said.
Agency veterans told USA TODAY the shutdown is the latest in what has been a tough year for NOAA employees, including those at the National Weather Service, National Hurricane Center, and the multiple laboratories within Oceanic and Atmospheric Research.
Shutdown sidelines hurricane research
Melissa was one of three Category 5 hurricanes this summer, the most extreme category on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. The hurricane has been blamed for 77 deaths, according to the Pan American Health Organization.
Melissa also is among 13 Category 5 hurricanes in the past decade, in what some scientists say appears to be an increase in intensity among the strongest storms and an increase in the number of storms that experience rapid intensification as the storms are fueled by warmer oceans.
Federal employees granted exceptions to fly hurricane reconnaissance missions during the shutdown were only allowed to collect basic data to learn what was happening inside the storm, said John Cortinas, a former deputy assistant administrator for science with NOAA's Oceanic and Atmospheric Research.
What wasn't being collected are other research observations that are part of every hurricane season, including experiments conducted by NOAA's Hurricane Research Division and its academic partners, who were able to pay their scientists who flew with NOAA during Melissa. “It’s absolutely critical to have these kinds of observations,” Cortinas said.
For example, earlier NOAA science missions in collaboration with academic researchers this summer, dropped small, expendable instruments to learn more about how conditions inside the core of the hurricane interact with the surrounding environment to make storms more or less intense. Those instruments stayed grounded during Melissa, while other instruments and drones collecting forecast information were deployed.
The reconnaissance missions during Melissa got “a lot of great data” said Andrew Hazelton, an associate scientist at the University of Miami, who flew on several of those missions.
"People worked really hard despite a challenging environment, and a lot of them were working without pay," Hazelton said. "But it would have been cool to be able to get more."
It would have been particularly helpful, he said, if they could have flown additional missions earlier during Melissa's development.
Hurricane Melissa's eye is captured by NOAA satellite as the sun rises, as the Category 5 storm, with peaked sustained winds of 185 mph and gusts of more than 200 mph, approaches the island of Jamaica.Shutdown stretches on
As the country waits to see how the standoff between the two clashing parties in Congress will end, former federal employees say it's been a rough year for NOAA employees. Not only is this shutdown now the longest in history, it comes after months of upheaval.
NOAA employees have seen mass layoffs, incentivized early retirements and departures, spending and hiring freezes, cost-cutting measures and canceled contracts as President Donald Trump's administration made good on his campaign promises to reduce the size of the federal bureaucracy and shrink the budget. Those cuts followed many of the recommendations from the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025.
NOAA has repeatedly stated this year that it remains dedicated to its mission, including the hurricane center. The weather service received authorization to fill more than 400 vacancies within its organization, and is accepting applications for many of those jobs.
While the administration exempted the weather service from the across-the-board hiring freeze, that's not the case for the rest of NOAA, said John Sokich, who retired earlier this year as director of congressional affairs for the National Weather Service. "That is creating a very stressful environment and a demoralized workforce."
The weather service also is working without pay during the shutdown to provide critical weather forecasts and warnings that everyone relies on, he said. "That in and of itself is adding to the stress of being short-staffed and overworked, at least until the vacancies can be filled and the government shutdown is resolved."
A NOAA satellite captures the eye of deadly Hurricane Melissa at Jamaica's coast.Climate research cuts in limbo
The Trump administration and supporters who authored the Project 2025 report have made it clear they’re targeting climate science. The report called NOAA "one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry."
In September, during a speech to the United Nations General Assembly President Trump criticized concerns about global warming and climate change, calling it "the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world, in my opinion." In a budget document, the White House stated some of NOAA's research and grant programs “spread environmental alarm."
But NOAA veterans point out the administration’s federal budget for 2026 doesn't just cut long-term climate change and forecasting, but also essential short-term climate research.
The administration’s proposed budget for the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric research "cuts beyond the bone," said Sokich. “Climate research is essentially gone in the current proposed NOAA budget from the president,” Sokich said.
That research is critical, Sokich said. "And I'm not just talking about climate change."
When members of the administration talk about climate science, they’re referring to research on long-term climate trends that document the increase in greenhouse gas emissions and the impacts of a warmer world, Sokich said. But actual climate research being targeted in funding cuts encompasses much more than that, he said. It starts with weather trends past the 10-day forecast and includes 60 and 90 day forecasts, and seasonal forecasting.
Such cuts, if enacted, would affect services such as seasonal forecasts relied on by farmers across the nation for planting and harvesting their crops, he said. And even if the Senate and House fully fund NOAA, Sokich said the administration could continue holding back the funds.
The agency's vast network of partners in private weather businesses, television meteorologists, academia and non-profit organizations also has been concerned about the administration’s proposal to eliminate much of NOAA's atmospheric research division. Individuals and organizations that use NOAA data in a variety of forecast products have released statements in support of the agency and added prominent disclaimers to their products to make it clear the data they use comes from NOAA.
Dinah Voyles Pulver, a national correspondent for USA TODAY, has written about hurricanes, tornadoes and violent weather for more than 30 years. Reach her at [email protected] or @dinahvp on Bluesky or X or dinahvp.77 on Signal.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Shutdown blocked researchers from studying Hurricane Melissa
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