Key Weather Satellite Goes into Safe Mode, Disrupting Forecasts

NOAA's GOES-19, the main weather satellite watching the Western Hemisphere for roughly 15 months, switched into a protective safe mode by July 15, 2026. Like a computer rebooting after an error, it paused its normal work — cloud images, storm tracking, lightning detection, and space weather monitoring. NOAA says engineers are working on a fix and will announce a timeline when ready.