The delay in the launch of J.P.S.S-1 could make it harder to forecast future storms. (Creative Commons/Wikipedia)

For the past two years, NASA officials have been warning Congress that because they did not appropriate enough funding for its replacement polar orbiting satellite, if the current satellites meet, but do not exceed their design lifetimes, it is very likely that a data gap will occur before the replacement satellite, J.P.S.S.-1 is ready to launch.

That lack of coverage could result in shaky forecasts about future storms, which would be problematic in predicting the path of storms like Hurricane Sandy which is expected to hit the East Coast as early as Sunday, the New York Times reported.

Currently, the launch of the next polar orbiting satellite moved to 2017, the New York Times reported.

In a statement, Ciaran Clayton the communication's director for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA) which runs the satellite program in partnership with NASA was quick to say that NOAA's top priority was to provide timely, accurate forecasts to protect the public, and that it would continue to develop and update plans to cover any potential gap.

Read the full story at the New York Times here.

Learn more about how NASA tracks weather here.

Reach Executive Producer Jackie Mansky here.