Congressman Lamar Smith to Sponsor a Weather Forecasting Amendment

Today, Rep. Lamar Smith will sponsor an amendment to the Commerce, Justice, Science appropriations bill that would fully fund improved weather forecasting technology at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Smith had a Science Committee bill authorizing these same activities that passed the House unanimously just two weeks ago, and he’s been working on these efforts since 2013. Today’s amendment to the CJS appropriations bill would ensure that these weather forecasting improvements are fully funded so that we can address America’s weather forecasting shortcomings and reduce the loss of life and property in severe storm incidents.

Smith’s bill improves America’s severe weather forecasting capabilities by prioritizing the protection of lives and property through a forward-looking weather research plan at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The bill received letters of support from 25 organizations representing the weather enterprise and industry.

Key points:

• The weather forecast technology we use today hasn’t been updated since the 1980’s
• Specifically, this amendment will provide funding for Weather Lab Research in NOAA, including:
  • The Weather Research Technology Transfer in NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research to implement a Labs and Cooperative Institutes research-to-operations program.
  • The research-to-operations program will improve the understanding of how the public responds to warnings and transfer new technology to the National Weather Service, the American weather industry, and academic partners.
  • Support for the Vortex-SE project and development of advanced national and global cloud resolving models, quantitative observing system assessment tools, atmospheric chemistry needed for weather prediction, and additional sources of weather data, which includes commercial observing systems.