Major Weather Bill Signed by the President Today

A major piece of legislation designed to improve U.S. weather and seasonal prediction was signed today by President Trump.

The bill, the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017, will support a wide range of improvements in U.S. weather prediction, enhance tsunami warning capabilities, and even take on the important task of dealing with weather radar gaps around the nation.

A refreshing aspect about the bill was its overwhelming bipartisan support, including passage by unanimous consent in the Senate.  Sponsors of the bill were from both sides of the aisle.  

What does this bill do?   

First, is calls on NOAA's Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research to conduct a program to improve forecasting of weather events and their effects, with a special focus on high impact weather events.

The National Weather Service must collect and utilize information to make reliable and timely forecasts of subseasonal and seasonal temperature and precipitation.  (Subseasonal forecasting is forecasting weather between two weeks and three months and seasonal forecasting is between three months and two years.)

The bill provides for technology transfers between the National Weather Service and private sector weather companies and universities to improve forecasting.

NOAA must complete and operationalize the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (a weather satellite program which uses global navigation systems to provide vertical soundings all over the world.)

It encourages NOAA to contract with the private sector to obtain data for weather forecasting.

And much more.

Our own Senator Cantwell played a major, positive role in this legislation. She added a section "To authorize and strengthen the tsunami detection, forecast, warning, research, and mitigation program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration".  And she worked with Republican legislators to require an evaluation of the gaps in U.S. weather radar coverage.

Senator Maria Cantwell

The bill authorizes the spending of $170M on the improvements, but those funds still need to be appropriated.

Strange silence in the media

You would think that a presidential signing of such a positive bipartisan bill would get a lot of press coverage.   But as of 9 PM Wednesday, I could not find a single story on the bill in any major media outlet.  Why?  

One possibility is that for some reason the mainstream media has not noticed this signing.  

Another is that some folks are nervous that the funds for improving weather to seasonal prediction might result in less support for climate research.  My take is that if some in Congress are determined to reduce climate research, it is far better to use the money for weather/seasonal prediction than lose the money entirely.  Climate and weather/seasonal models are basically the same and improving short-term predictions can only help climate projections.  

There may be some reluctance among some to give President Trump and Republican legislators credit for their efforts on this bill, but I believe they deserve credit for making a very positive contribution to enhancing the nation's ability to predict the weather, skillfully project seasonal changes, and to warn about imminent tsunamis.  

The nation needs to come together to deal with our failing infrastructure and needs of our citizens.   This bill is an example of the kind of positive things we can accomplish if we work together.  

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