As we highlighted previously, the United States is approaching an unenviable challenge: the possibility of 17 months worth of dramatically diminished weather satellite coverage (to be precise, the loss of two polar-orbiting satellites that are critical for accurate weather forecasting). This seems astonishing in the wake of such a devastating and unpredictable storm as Sandy, but the reasons for it lie in past mistakes that are not so easily, or quickly, corrected.

For this reason, as reported by Climate Central, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is seeking public input on “how to maintain the accuracy of the agency’s weather forecasts despite the loss of satellite-derived data.”

Click here for additional details, and/or to submit a comment. The deadline is 5:00 p.m. (presumably Eastern) on December 19, 2012.