II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4975 

To require the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere 

to carry out pilot projects relating to improved subseasonal to seasonal 

forecasting in agriculture and water management, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 1, 2024 

Ms. ROSEN (for herself, Mr. PADILLA, and Mr. HEINRICH) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To require the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans 

and Atmosphere to carry out pilot projects relating to 

improved subseasonal to seasonal forecasting in agriculture and water management, 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 ‘‘Smarter Weather 

5 Forecasting for Water Management, Farming, and 

6 Ranching Act of 2024’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. WEATHER AND CLIMATE INFORMATION IN AGRI2 CULTURE AND WATER MANAGEMENT. 

3 Section 1762 of the Food Security Act of 1985 (15 

4 U.S.C. 8521) is amended— 

5 (1) by amending subsection (h) to read as fol6 lows: 

7 ‘‘(h) SUBSEASONAL TO SEASONAL FORECASTING

8 PILOT PROJECTS.— 

9 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Under Secretary 

10 shall establish not fewer than two pilot projects, in 

11 accordance with paragraph (2), within the U.S. 

12 Weather Research Program of the Oceanic and At13 mospheric Research office of the National Oceanic 

14 and Atmospheric Administration to support im15 proved subseasonal to seasonal precipitation fore16 casts for the following: 

17 ‘‘(A) Water management in the western 

18 United States. 

19 ‘‘(B) Agriculture in the United States. 

20 ‘‘(2) OBJECTIVES.—In carrying out this sub21 section, the Under Secretary shall ensure the fol22 lowing: 

23 ‘‘(A) A pilot project under subparagraph 

24 (A) of paragraph (1) addresses key science 

25 challenges to improving forecasts and devel26 oping related products for water management 


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1 in the western United States, including the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘(i) Improving operational model reso4 lution, both horizontal and vertical, to re5 solve issues associated with mountainous 

6 terrain, such as intensity of precipitation 

7 and relative fraction of rain versus snow 

8 precipitation. 

9 ‘‘(ii) Improving fidelity in the oper10 ational modeling of the atmospheric bound11 ary layer in mountainous regions. 

12 ‘‘(iii) Resolving challenges in pre13 dicting winter atmospheric circulation and 

14 storm tracks, including periods of blocked 

15 versus unblocked flow over the eastern 

16 North Pacific Ocean and western United 

17 States. 

18 ‘‘(iv) Improving the forecast of atmos19 pheric rivers. 

20 ‘‘(v) Improving— 

21 ‘‘(I) the quality and temporal 

22 and spatial resolution of observations 

23 of air-sea interactions; 

24 ‘‘(II) operational modeling of air25 sea interactions; and 


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1 ‘‘(III) operational modeling of 

2 the influence of oceans on subseasonal 

3 and seasonal forecasting. 

4 ‘‘(B) A pilot project under subparagraph 

5 (B) of paragraph (1) addresses key science 

6 challenges to improving forecasts and devel7 oping related products for agriculture in the 

8 United States, including the following: 

9 ‘‘(i) Improving the quality and tem10 poral and spatial resolution of observations 

11 and accurate operational modeling of the 

12 land surface and hydrologic cycle, includ13 ing soil moisture and flash drought proc14 esses. 

15 ‘‘(ii) Improving fidelity in the oper16 ational modeling of warm season precipita17 tion processes. 

18 ‘‘(iii) Understanding and predicting 

19 large-scale upper-level dynamical flow 

20 anomalies that occur in spring and sum21 mer. 

22 ‘‘(3) ACTIVITIES.—A pilot project under this 

23 subsection shall include activities that— 

24 ‘‘(A) best implement recommendations con25 tained in the 2020 report of the National 


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1 Weather Service, entitled ‘Subseasonal and Sea2 sonal Forecasting Innovation: Plans for the 

3 Twenty-First Century’; 

4 ‘‘(B) achieve measurable objectives for 

5 operational forecast improvement; 

6 ‘‘(C) engage with, and leverage the re7 sources of, institutions of higher education (as 

8 such term is defined in section 101 of the High9 er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001)), or 

10 a consortia thereof, and entities within the Na11 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

12 in existence as of the date of the enactment of 

13 this subsection, including Regional Climate 

14 Centers and the National Centers for Environ15 mental Information; and 

16 ‘‘(D) are carried out in coordination with 

17 the Assistant Administrator for the Office of 

18 Oceanic and Atmospheric Research and the Di19 rector of the National Weather Service. 

20 ‘‘(4) SUNSET.—The authority under this sub21 section shall terminate on the date that is five years 

22 after the date of the enactment of this subsection.’’; 

23 and 

24 (2) by amending subsection (j) to read as fol25 lows: 


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1 ‘‘(j) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

2 are authorized to be appropriated $45,000,000 for each 

3 of fiscal years 2024 through 2028 to carry out the activi4 ties under this section.’’. 

Æ 


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