Private Companies Are Now Gathering Weather Data for NOAA

The article discusses how private companies are increasingly providing weather data to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) amid staffing shortages and budget cuts at the National Weather Service (NWS). For example, WindBorne Systems, a startup deploying advanced weather balloons, began supplying atmospheric data from western Alaska after the NWS suspended balloon launches there due to personnel cuts. Backed by venture capital, WindBorne is expanding its balloon launch sites across the U.S. to help fill critical data gaps that are essential for weather forecasting and climate monitoring. Other startups like Sofar Ocean, Tomorrow.io, Black Swift Technologies, and Saildrone are also contributing data through NOAA’s Mesonet Program, leveraging innovative technologies and AI models. While collaboration between NOAA and private firms is not new, former NOAA officials express concern that the current administration’s push for privatization may lead to the agency relying too heavily on private data services at the expense of maintaining its own core observational infrastructure. They emphasize that NOAA must retain control