113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 2413 

AN ACT 

To prioritize and redirect NOAA resources to a focused 

program of investment on affordable and attainable advances in observational, computing, and modeling capabilities to deliver substantial improvement in weather 

forecasting and prediction of high impact weather events, 

such as those associated with hurricanes, tornadoes, 

droughts, floods, storm surges, and wildfires, and for 

other purposes. 
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1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Weather Forecasting 

5 Improvement Act of 2014’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PUBLIC SAFETY PRIORITY. 

7 In accordance with NOAA’s critical mission to pro8 vide science, service, and stewardship, the Under Sec9 retary shall prioritize weather-related activities, including 

10 the provision of improved weather data, forecasts, and 

11 warnings for the protection of life and property and the 

12 enhancement of the national economy, in all relevant line 

13 offices. 

14 SEC. 3. WEATHER RESEARCH AND FORECASTING INNOVA15 TION. 

16 (a) PROGRAM.—The Assistant Administrator for 

17 OAR shall conduct a program to develop improved under18 standing of and forecast capabilities for atmospheric 

19 events and their impacts, placing priority on developing 

20 more accurate, timely, and effective warnings and fore21 casts of high impact weather events that endanger life and 

22 property. 

23 (b) PROGRAM ELEMENTS.—The program described 

24 in subsection (a) shall focus on the following activities: 
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1 (1) Improving the fundamental understanding 

2 of weather consistent with section 2, including the 

3 boundary layer and other atmospheric processes af4 fecting high impact weather events. 

5 (2) Improving the understanding of how the 

6 public receives, interprets, and responds to warnings 

7 and forecasts of high impact weather events that en8 danger life and property. 

9 (3) Research and development, and transfer of 

10 knowledge, technologies, and applications to the 

11 NWS and other appropriate agencies and entities, 

12 including the American weather industry and aca13 demic partners, related to— 

14 (A) advanced radar, radar networking 

15 technologies, and other ground-based tech16 nologies, including those emphasizing rapid, 

17 fine-scale sensing of the boundary layer and 

18 lower troposphere, and the use of innovative, 

19 dual-polarization, phased array technologies; 

20 (B) aerial weather observing systems; 

21 (C) high performance computing and infor22 mation technology and wireless communication 

23 networks; 

24 (D) advanced numerical weather prediction 

25 systems and forecasting tools and techniques 
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1 that improve the forecasting of timing, track, 

2 intensity, and severity of high impact weather, 

3 including through— 

4 (i) the development of more effective 

5 mesoscale models; 

6 (ii) more effective use of existing, and 

7 the development of new, regional and na8 tional cloud-resolving models; 

9 (iii) enhanced global weather models; 

10 and 

11 (iv) integrated assessment models; 

12 (E) quantitative assessment tools for meas13 uring the impact and value of data and observ14 ing systems, including OSSEs (as described in 

15 section 8), OSEs, and AOAs; 

16 (F) atmospheric chemistry and interactions 

17 essential to accurately characterizing atmos18 pheric composition and predicting meteorolog19 ical processes, including cloud microphysical, 

20 precipitation, and atmospheric electrification 

21 processes, to more effectively understand their 

22 role in severe weather; and 

23 (G) additional sources of weather data and 

24 information, including commercial observing 

25 systems. 
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1 (4) A technology transfer initiative, carried out 

2 jointly and in coordination with the Assistant Ad3 ministrator for NWS, and in cooperation with the 

4 American weather industry and academic partners, 

5 to ensure continuous development and transition of 

6 the latest scientific and technological advances into 

7 NWS operations and to establish a process to sunset 

8 outdated and expensive operational methods and 

9 tools to enable cost-effective transfer of new methods 

10 and tools into operations. 

11 (c) EXTRAMURAL RESEARCH.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the program 

13 under this section, the Assistant Administrator for 

14 OAR shall collaborate with and support the non15 Federal weather research community, which includes 

16 institutions of higher education, private entities, and 

17 nongovernmental organizations, by making funds 

18 available through competitive grants, contracts, and 

19 cooperative agreements. 

20 (2) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of 

21 Congress that not less than 30 percent of the funds 

22 authorized for research and development at OAR by 

23 this Act should be made available for this purpose. 

24 (d) REPORT.—The Under Secretary shall transmit to 

25 Congress annually, concurrently with NOAA’s budget re-
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1 quest, a description of current and planned activities 

2 under this section. 

3 SEC. 4. TORNADO WARNING IMPROVEMENT AND EXTEN4 SION PROGRAM. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary, in collabo6 ration with the American weather industry and academic 

7 partners, shall establish a tornado warning improvement 

8 and extension program. 

9 (b) GOAL.—The goal of such program shall be to re10 duce the loss of life and economic losses from tornadoes 

11 through the development and extension of accurate, effec12 tive, and timely tornado forecasts, predictions, and warn13 ings, including the prediction of tornadoes beyond one 

14 hour in advance. 

15 (c) PROGRAM PLAN.—Not later than 6 months after 

16 the date of enactment of this Act, the Assistant Adminis17 trator for OAR, in consultation with the Assistant Admin18 istrator for NWS, shall develop a program plan that de19 tails the specific research, development, and technology 

20 transfer activities, as well as corresponding resources and 

21 timelines, necessary to achieve the program goal. 

22 (d) BUDGET FOR PLAN.—Following completion of 

23 the plan, the Assistant Administrator for OAR, in con24 sultation with the Assistant Administrator for NWS, shall 
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1 transmit annually to Congress a proposed budget cor2 responding to the activities identified in the plan. 

3 SEC. 5. HURRICANE WARNING IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary, in collabo5 ration with the American weather industry and academic 

6 partners, shall establish a hurricane warning improvement 

7 program. 

8 (b) GOAL.—The goal of such program shall be to de9 velop and extend accurate hurricane forecasts and warn10 ings in order to reduce loss of life, injury, and damage 

11 to the economy. 

12 (c) PROGRAM PLAN.—Not later than 6 months after 

13 the date of enactment of this Act, the Assistant Adminis14 trator for OAR, in consultation with the Assistant Admin15 istrator for NWS, shall develop a program plan that de16 tails the specific research, development, and technology 

17 transfer activities, as well as corresponding resources and 

18 timelines, necessary to achieve the program goal. 

19 (d) BUDGET FOR PLAN.—Following completion of 

20 the plan, the Assistant Administrator for OAR, in con21 sultation with the Assistant Administrator for NWS, shall 

22 transmit annually to Congress a proposed budget cor23 responding to the activities identified in the plan. 
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1 SEC. 6. WEATHER RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN2 NING. 

3 Not later than 6 months after the date of enactment 

4 of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Assistant Admin5 istrator for OAR, in coordination with the Assistant Ad6 ministrators for NWS and NESDIS, shall issue a research 

7 and development plan to restore and maintain United 

8 States leadership in numerical weather prediction and 

9 forecasting that— 

10 (1) describes the forecasting skill and tech11 nology goals, objectives, and progress of NOAA in 

12 carrying out the program conducted under section 3; 

13 (2) identifies and prioritizes specific research 

14 and development activities, and performance metrics, 

15 weighted to meet the operational weather mission of 

16 NWS; 

17 (3) describes how the program will collaborate 

18 with stakeholders, including the American weather 

19 industry and academic partners; and 

20 (4) identifies, through consultation with the Na21 tional Science Foundation, American weather indus22 try, and academic partners, research necessary to 

23 enhance the integration of social science knowledge 

24 into weather forecast and warning processes, includ25 ing to improve the communication of threat informa26 tion necessary to enable improved severe weather 
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1 planning and decisionmaking on the part of individ2 uals and communities. 

3 SEC. 7. OBSERVING SYSTEM PLANNING. 

4 The Under Secretary shall— 

5 (1) develop and maintain a prioritized list of 

6 observation data requirements necessary to ensure 

7 weather forecasting capabilities to protect life and 

8 property to the maximum extent practicable; 

9 (2) undertake, using OSSEs, OSEs, AOAs, and 

10 other appropriate assessment tools, ongoing system11 atic evaluations of the combination of observing sys12 tems, data, and information needed to meet the re13 quirements listed under paragraph (1), assessing 

14 various options to maximize observational capabili15 ties and their cost-effectiveness; 

16 (3) identify current and potential future data 

17 gaps in observing capabilities related to the require18 ments listed under paragraph (1); and 

19 (4) determine a range of options to address 

20 gaps identified under paragraph (3). 

21 SEC. 8. OBSERVING SYSTEM SIMULATION EXPERIMENTS. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—In support of the requirements of 

23 section 7, the Assistant Administrator for OAR shall un24 dertake OSSEs to quantitatively assess the relative value 
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1 and benefits of observing capabilities and systems. Tech2 nical and scientific OSSE evaluations— 

3 (1) may include assessments of the impact of 

4 observing capabilities on— 

5 (A) global weather prediction; 

6 (B) hurricane track and intensity fore7 casting; 

8 (C) tornado warning lead times and accu9 racy; 

10 (D) prediction of mid-latitude severe local 

11 storm outbreaks; and 

12 (E) prediction of storms that have the po13 tential to cause extreme precipitation and flood14 ing lasting from 6 hours to 1 week; and 

15 (2) shall be conducted in cooperation with other 

16 appropriate entities within NOAA, other Federal 

17 agencies, the American weather industry, and aca18 demic partners to ensure the technical and scientific 

19 merit of OSSE results. 

20 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—OSSEs shall quantitatively— 

21 (1) determine the potential impact of proposed 

22 space-based, suborbital, and in situ observing sys23 tems on analyses and forecasts, including potential 

24 impacts on extreme weather events across all parts 

25 of the Nation; 
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1 (2) evaluate and compare observing system de2 sign options; and 

3 (3) assess the relative capabilities and costs of 

4 various observing systems and combinations of ob5 serving systems in providing data necessary to pro6 tect life and property. 

7 (c) IMPLEMENTATION.—OSSEs— 

8 (1) shall be conducted prior to the acquisition 

9 of major Government-owned or Government-leased 

10 operational observing systems, including polar-orbit11 ing and geostationary satellite systems, with a 

12 lifecycle cost of more than $500,000,000; and 

13 (2) shall be conducted prior to the purchase of 

14 any major new commercially provided data with a 

15 lifecycle cost of more than $500,000,000. 

16 (d) PRIORITY OSSES.—Not later than June 30, 2014, 

17 the Assistant Administrator for OAR shall complete 

18 OSSEs to assess the value of data from both Global Posi19 tioning System radio occultation and a geostationary 

20 hyperspectral sounder global constellation. 

21 (e) RESULTS.—Upon completion of all OSSEs, re22 sults shall be publicly released and accompanied by an as23 sessment of related private and public sector weather data 

24 sourcing options, including their availability, affordability, 

25 and cost effectiveness. Such assessments shall be devel-
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1 oped in accordance with section 50503 of title 51, United 

2 States Code. 

3 SEC. 9. COMPUTING RESOURCES PRIORITIZATION REPORT. 

4 Not later than 12 months after the date of enactment 

5 of this Act, and annually thereafter, the NOAA Chief In6 formation Officer, in coordination with the Assistant Ad7 ministrator for OAR and the Assistant Administrator for 

8 NWS, shall produce and make publicly available a report 

9 that explains how NOAA intends to— 

10 (1) aggressively pursue the newest, fastest, and 

11 most cost effective high performance computing 

12 technologies in support of its weather prediction mis13 sion; 

14 (2) ensure a balance between the research re15 quirements to develop the next generation of re16 gional and global models and its highly reliable oper17 ational models; 

18 (3) take advantage of advanced development 

19 concepts to, as appropriate, make its next generation 

20 weather prediction models available in beta-test 

21 mode to its operational forecasters, the American 

22 weather industry, and its partners in academic and 

23 government research; 

24 (4) identify opportunities to reallocate existing 

25 advanced computing resources from lower priority 
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1 uses to improve advanced research and operational 

2 weather prediction; and 

3 (5) harness new computing power in OAR and 

4 NWS for immediate improvement in forecasting and 

5 experimentation. 

6 SEC. 10. COMMERCIAL WEATHER DATA. 

7 (a) AMENDMENT.—Section 60161 of title 51, United 

8 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol9 lowing: ‘‘This prohibition shall not extend to— 

10 ‘‘(1) the purchase of weather data through con11 tracts with commercial providers; or 

12 ‘‘(2) the placement of weather satellite instru13 ments on cohosted government or private payloads.’’. 

14 (b) STRATEGY.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months 

16 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec17 retary of Commerce, in consultation with the Under 

18 Secretary, shall transmit to the Committee on 

19 Science, Space, and Technology of the House of 

20 Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, 

21 Science, and Transportation of the Senate a strategy 

22 to enable the procurement of quality commercial 

23 weather data. The strategy shall assess the range of 

24 commercial opportunities, including public-private 

25 partnerships, for obtaining both surface-based and 
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1 space-based weather observations. The strategy shall 

2 include the expected cost effectiveness of these op3 portunities as well as provide a plan for procuring 

4 data, including an expected implementation timeline, 

5 from these nongovernmental sources, as appropriate. 

6 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—The strategy shall in7 clude— 

8 (A) an analysis of financial or other bene9 fits to, and risks associated with, acquiring 

10 commercial weather data or services, including 

11 through multiyear acquisition approaches; 

12 (B) an identification of methods to address 

13 planning, programming, budgeting, and execu14 tion challenges to such approaches, including— 

15 (i) how standards will be set to ensure 

16 that data is reliable and effective; 

17 (ii) how data may be acquired through 

18 commercial experimental or innovative 

19 techniques and then evaluated for integra20 tion into operational use; 

21 (iii) how to guarantee public access to 

22 all forecast-critical data to ensure that the 

23 American weather industry and the public 

24 continue to have access to information crit25 ical to their work; and 
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1 (iv) in accordance with section 50503 

2 of title 51, United States Code, methods to 

3 address potential termination liability or 

4 cancellation costs associated with weather 

5 data or service contracts; and 

6 (C) an identification of any changes needed 

7 in the requirements development and approval 

8 processes of the Department of Commerce to 

9 facilitate effective and efficient implementation 

10 of such strategy. 

11 SEC. 11. WEATHER RESEARCH AND INNOVATION ADVISORY 

12 COMMITTEE. 

13 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Under Secretary shall es14 tablish a Federal Advisory Committee to— 

15 (1) provide advice for prioritizing weather re16 search initiatives at NOAA to produce real improve17 ment in weather forecasting; 

18 (2) provide advice on existing or emerging tech19 nologies or techniques that can be found in private 

20 industry or the research community that could be in21 corporated into forecasting at NWS to improve fore22 casting; 

23 (3) identify opportunities to improve commu24 nications between weather forecasters, emergency 

25 management personnel, and the public; and 
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1 (4) address such other matters as the Under 

2 Secretary or the Advisory Committee believes would 

3 improve innovation in weather forecasting. 

4 (b) COMPOSITION.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall 

6 appoint leading experts and innovators from all rel7 evant fields of science and engineering that inform 

8 meteorology, including atmospheric chemistry, at9 mospheric physics, hydrology, social science, risk 

10 communications, electrical engineering, and com11 puter modeling. 

12 (2) NUMBER.—The Advisory Committee shall 

13 be composed of at least 12 members, with the chair 

14 of the Advisory Committee chosen by the Under Sec15 retary from among the members. 

16 (3) RESTRICTION.—The Under Secretary may 

17 not appoint a majority of members who are employ18 ees of NOAA-funded research centers. 

19 (c) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Advisory Committee 

20 shall transmit annually to the Under Secretary a report 

21 on progress made by NOAA in adopting the Advisory 

22 Committee’s recommendations. The Under Secretary shall 

23 transmit a copy of such report to the Committee on 

24 Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Rep-
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1 resentatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

2 and Transportation of the Senate. 

3 (d) DURATION.—Section 14 of the Federal Advisory 

4 Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply to the Ad5 visory Committee until the date that is 5 years after the 

6 date of enactment of this Act. 

7 SEC. 12. INTERAGENCY WEATHER RESEARCH AND INNOVA8 TION COORDINATION. 

9 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Director of the Office of 

10 Science and Technology Policy shall establish an Inter11 agency Committee for Advancing Weather Services to im12 prove coordination of relevant weather research and fore13 cast innovation activities across the Federal Government. 

14 The Interagency Committee shall— 

15 (1) include participation by the National Aero16 nautics and Space Administration, the Federal Avia17 tion Administration, NOAA and its constituent ele18 ments, the National Science Foundation, and such 

19 other agencies involved in weather forecasting re20 search as the President determines are appropriate; 

21 (2) identify and prioritize top forecast needs 

22 and coordinate those needs against budget requests 

23 and program initiatives across participating offices 

24 and agencies; and 
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1 (3) share information regarding operational 

2 needs and forecasting improvements across relevant 

3 agencies. 

4 (b) CO-CHAIR.—The Federal Coordinator for Meteor5 ology shall serve as a co-chair of this panel. 

6 (c) FURTHER COORDINATION.—The Director shall 

7 take such other steps as are necessary to coordinate the 

8 activities of the Federal Government with those of the 

9 American weather industry, State governments, emer10 gency managers, and academic researchers. 

11 SEC. 13. OAR AND NWS EXCHANGE PROGRAM. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Assistant Administrator for 

13 OAR and the Assistant Administrator for NWS may es14 tablish a program to detail OAR personnel to the NWS 

15 and NWS personnel to OAR. 

16 (b) GOAL.—The goal of this program is to enhance 

17 forecasting innovation through regular, direct interaction 

18 between OAR’s world-class scientists and NWS’s oper19 ational staff. 

20 (c) ELEMENTS.—The program shall allow up to 10 

21 OAR staff and NWS staff to spend up to 1 year on detail. 

22 Candidates shall be jointly selected by the Assistant Ad23 ministrator for OAR and the Assistant Administrator for 

24 NWS. 
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1 (d) REPORT.—The Under Secretary shall report an2 nually to the Committee on Science, Space, and Tech3 nology of the House of Representatives and to the Com4 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 

5 Senate on participation in such program and shall high6 light any innovations that come from this interaction. 

7 SEC. 14. VISITING FELLOWS AT NWS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Assistant Administrator for 

9 NWS may establish a program to host postdoctoral fellows 

10 and academic researchers at any of the National Centers 

11 for Environmental Prediction. 

12 (b) GOAL.—This program shall be designed to pro13 vide direct interaction between forecasters and talented 

14 academic and private sector researchers in an effort to 

15 bring innovation to forecasting tools and techniques avail16 able to the NWS. 

17 (c) SELECTION AND APPOINTMENT.—Such fellows 

18 shall be competitively selected and appointed for a term 

19 not to exceed 1 year. 

20 SEC. 15. DEFINITIONS. 

21 In this Act: 

22 (1) AOA.—The term ‘‘AOA’’ means an Anal23 ysis of Alternatives. 
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1 (2) NESDIS.—The term ‘‘NESDIS’’ means 

2 the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and In3 formation Service. 

4 (3) NOAA.—The term ‘‘NOAA’’ means the Na5 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 

6 (4) NWS.—The term ‘‘NWS’’ means the Na7 tional Weather Service. 

8 (5) OAR.—The term ‘‘OAR’’ means the Office 

9 of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. 

10 (6) OSE.—The term ‘‘OSE’’ means an Observ11 ing System Experiment. 

12 (7) OSSE.—The term ‘‘OSSE’’ means an Ob13 serving System Simulation Experiment. 

14 (8) UNDER SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Under 

15 Secretary’’ means the Under Secretary of Commerce 

16 for Oceans and Atmosphere. 

17 SEC. 16. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

18 (a) FISCAL YEAR 2014.—There are authorized to be 

19 appropriated for fiscal year 2014— 

20 (1) $83,000,000 to OAR to carry out this Act, 

21 of which— 

22 (A) $65,000,000 is authorized for weather 

23 laboratories and cooperative institutes; and 

24 (B) $18,000,000 is authorized for weather 

25 and air chemistry research programs; and 
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1 (2) out of funds made available for research 

2 and development in NWS, an additional amount of 

3 $14,000,000 for OAR to carry out the joint tech4 nology transfer initiative described in section 

5 3(b)(4). 

6 (b) ALTERNATIVE FUNDING FOR FISCAL YEAR

7 2014.—If the Budget Control Act of 2011 (Public Law 

8 112–25) is repealed or replaced with an Act that increases 

9 allocations, subsection (a) shall not apply, and there are 

10 authorized to be appropriated for fiscal year 2014— 

11 (1) $96,500,000 to OAR to carry out this Act, 

12 of which— 

13 (A) $77,500,000 is authorized for weather 

14 laboratories and cooperative institutes; and 

15 (B) $19,000,000 is authorized for weather 

16 and air chemistry research programs; and 

17 (2) out of funds made available for research 

18 and development in NWS, an additional amount of 

19 $16,000,000 for OAR to carry out the joint tech20 nology transfer initiative described in section 

21 3(b)(4). 

22 (c) FISCAL YEARS 2015 THROUGH 2017.—For each 

23 of fiscal years 2015 through 2017, there are authorized 

24 to be appropriated— 
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1 (1) $100,000,000 to OAR to carry out this Act, 

2 of which— 

3 (A) $80,000,000 is authorized for weather 

4 laboratories and cooperative institutes; and 

5 (B) $20,000,000 is authorized for weather 

6 and air chemistry research programs; and 

7 (2) an additional amount of $20,000,000 for 

8 the joint technology transfer initiative described in 

9 section 3(b)(4). 

10 (d) LIMITATION.—No additional funds are author11 ized to carry out this Act, and the amendments made by 

12 this Act. 

Passed the House of Representatives April 1, 2014. 

Attest: 

Clerk. 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 2413 

AN ACT 

To prioritize and redirect NOAA resources to a fofor other purposes. droughts, floods, storm surges, and wildfires, and those associated with hurricanes, tornadoes, diction of high impact weather events, such as improvement in weather forecasting and pre- and modeling capabilities to deliver substantial attainable advances in observational, computing, cused program of investment on affordable and