I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 268

To authorize appropriations for the United States Weather Research 

Program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 8, 2003

Mr. EHLERS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Science 

A BILL

To authorize appropriations for the United States Weather 

Research Program, and for other purposes.

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 ‘‘United States Weather 

5 Research Program Act of 2003’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PROGRAM FOCUS. 

7 The focus of the United States Weather Research 

8 Program, an interagency program established under sec9 tion 108 of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin-
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1 istration Authorization Act of 1992 (15 U.S.C. 313 note), 

2 shall be on—

3 (1) hurricanes, floods, and heavy precipitation, 

4 including both snow and rain; 

5 (2) building on existing investments, including 

6 those of the National Weather Service modernization 

7 effort, to dramatically accelerate improvement in 

8 weather forecasts; 

9 (3) providing attention and resources in areas 

10 where progress can be made quickly and where the 

11 impact will be greatest; 

12 (4) establishing goals that can be attained by 

13 leveraging the resources of several agencies and 

14 through the collaborative scientific efforts of the 

15 operational and research communities in academia 

16 and government; and 

17 (5) making research grants to universities and 

18 other research institutions. 

19 SEC. 3. PROGRAM RESEARCH PRIORITIES. 

20 The research priorities of the United States Weather 

21 Research Program shall be in the areas of—

22 (1) hurricanes, to improve—

23 (A) landfall location forecasts; and 

24 (B) forecasts of hurricane strength; 
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1 (2) heavy precipitation, to improve forecasts of 

2 both winter storms and rain storms through better 

3 prediction of timing, location, and intensity; 

4 (3) floods, to improve—

5 (A) flood forecasting by coupling precipita6 tion forecasts with hydrologic prediction; and 

7 (B) forecasting and warning systems for 

8 inland flooding related to tropical cyclones; 

9 (4) two-to-fourteen day forecasting, to—

10 (A) improve short and medium range nu11 merical weather predictions and warnings of 

12 high-impact weather events; 

13 (B) conduct the Hemispheric Observing 

14 System Research and Predictability Experiment 

15 (THORpex) to fill observational gaps in the 

16 Northern Hemisphere; and 

17 (C) test and evaluate advanced data as18 similation techniques in global models; 

19 (5) societal and economic impacts, to—

20 (A) identify methods of delivering weather 

21 information effectively and recommend ways to 

22 improve weather communications; 

23 (B) assess social and economic impacts of 

24 adverse weather ranging from disastrous to rou25 tine; 
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1 (C) evaluate what weather information is 

2 most useful to public and private decision mak3 ers; and 

4 (D) perform research on societal and eco5 nomic impact to ensure a connection between 

6 weather research and improvement of the 

7 human condition; and 

8 (6) testing research concepts at United States 

9 Weather Research Program-sponsored test bed cen10 ters in an environment identical to those used by 

11 operational meteorologists, to enable technology 

12 transfer to those operational meteorologists. 

13 SEC. 4. INTERAGENCY PLANNING AND PROCESS. 

14 The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra15 tion, as the lead agency of the United States Weather Re16 search Program, shall coordinate and consult with the Na17 tional Science Foundation, the National Aeronautics and 

18 Space Administration, other appropriate Federal agencies, 

19 and other appropriate entities to develop, and annually up20 date, a five-year plan—

21 (1) describing how Federal agencies can best 

22 team with universities and other research institu23 tions; 

24 (2) identifying social, economic, and military 

25 needs and requirements for weather information, as 
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1 well as defining the research required to meet these 

2 needs; 

3 (3) outlining methods for dissemination of 

4 weather information to user communities; and 

5 (4) describing best practices for transferring 

6 United States Weather Research Program research 

7 results to forecasting operations. 

8 SEC. 5. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 

9 Not later than one year after the date of the enact10 ment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Adminis11 trator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis12 tration shall transmit to the Committee on Science of the 

13 House of Representatives and the Committee on Com14 merce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate a report 

15 which shall include—

16 (1) the most recent five-year plan developed or 

17 updated under section 4, including the roles and 

18 funding to be provided by various Federal agencies 

19 in achieving the objectives of the plan; 

20 (2) a justification of any changes to the plan 

21 since the last transmittal under this section; and 

22 (3) a detailed assessment of the extent to which 

23 the objectives of the plan have been achieved. 
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1 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

2 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Office 

3 of Atmospheric Research of the National Oceanic and At4 mospheric Administration for carrying out this Act—

5 (1) for fiscal year 2004, $15,000,000, of which 

6 at least 50 percent shall be for competitive, merit7 reviewed grants to, or contracts or cooperative 

8 agreements with, institutions of higher education (as 

9 defined in section 101 of the Higher Education Act 

10 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001)); 

11 (2) for fiscal year 2005, $15,500,000, of which 

12 at least 50 percent shall be for competitive, merit13 reviewed grants to, or contracts or cooperative 

14 agreements with, institutions of higher education (as 

15 defined in section 101 of the Higher Education Act 

16 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001)); and 

17 (3) for fiscal year 2006, $16,000,000, of which 

18 at least 50 percent shall be for competitive, merit19 reviewed grants to, or contracts or cooperative 

20 agreements with, institutions of higher education (as 

21 defined in section 101 of the Higher Education Act 

22 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001)).

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