Heads of NASA and NOAA warn 5G could mean less time to flee a deadly hurricane

“It’s become increasingly clear that the wireless industry is trying to push the idea of speedy 5G wireless networks before the technology is actually ready,” Sean Hollister reports for The Verge. “But until today, we hadn’t realized that people’s lives might also be at stake.”
“As reported by The Washington Post and CNET, the heads of NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) warn the issue could set back the world’s weather forecasting abilities by 40 years — reducing our ability to predict the path of deadly hurricanes and the amount of time available to evacuate,” Hollister reports.
“It’s because one of the key wireless frequencies earmarked for speedy 5G millimeter wave networks — the 24 GHz band — happens to be very close to the frequencies used by microwave satellites to observe water vapor and detect those changes in the weather,” Hollister reports. “They have the potential to interfere. And according to NASA and NOAA testimony, they could interfere to the point that it delays preparation for extreme weather events.”
Read more in the full article here.
“On Thursday, NOAA’s acting chief Neil Jacobs testified on Capitol Hill that the interference from new 5G wireless radios could reduce the accuracy of weather forecasting by as much as 30 percent,” Marguerite Reardon reports for CNET. He told the House Subcommittee on the Environment this would result in coastal residents getting at least two to three fewer days to prepare for a hurricane and could lead to less accurate predictions about where these major storms will make landfall.””
“The FCC began auctioning off the 24 GHz spectrum in March to wireless carriers who plan to use it for new 5G networks,” Reardon reports. “Turning down the power emitted by 5G wireless radios could help prevent some of this interference. But Jacobs pointed out that the current proposal from the FCC would result in a 77 percent loss in data from the NOAA satellite sensors.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Uh, sounds bacd, but Jacobs also testified that experts from the FCC and NOAA are collaborating to come up with a solution and that he was optimistic a solution will be found.