I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1437 

To amend the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 

to direct the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to provide 

comprehensive and regularly updated Federal precipitation information, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 26, 2021 

Ms. SHERRILL (for herself, Ms. ROSS, Ms. NORTON, Mr. PASCRELL, Ms. 

JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. CRIST, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. SIRES, and Ms. 

MOORE of Wisconsin) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 

A BILL 

To amend the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation 

Act of 2017 to direct the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to provide comprehensive and regularly updated Federal precipitation information, 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 ‘‘Providing Research 

5 and Estimates of Changes In Precipitation Act’’ or the 

6 ‘‘PRECIP Act’’. 

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1 SEC. 2. AMENDMENT TO THE WEATHER RESEARCH AND 

2 FORECASTING INNOVATION ACT OF 2017. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 508 of the Weather Re4 search and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 

5 8521) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘TITLE VI—IMPROVING FED7 ERAL PRECIPITATION INFOR8 MATION 

9 ‘‘SEC. 601. STUDY ON PRECIPITATION ESTIMATION. 

10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 

11 date of enactment of the PRECIP Act, the Administrator, 

12 in consultation with other Federal agencies as appropriate, 

13 shall seek to enter an agreement with the National Acad14 emies— 

15 ‘‘(1) to conduct a study on the state of practice 

16 and research needs for precipitation estimation, in17 cluding probable maximum precipitation estimation; 

18 and 

19 ‘‘(2) to submit, not later than 24 months after 

20 the date on which such agreement is finalized, to the 

21 Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the 

22 House of Representatives and the Committee on 

23 Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Sen24 ate, and make publicly available on a website, a re25 port on the results of the study under paragraph 

26 (1). 

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1 ‘‘(b) STUDY.—The report under subsection (a) shall 

2 include the following: 

3 ‘‘(1) An examination of the current state of 

4 practice for precipitation estimation at scales appro5 priate for decisionmaker needs, and rationale for 

6 further evolution of this field. 

7 ‘‘(2) An evaluation of best practices for precipi8 tation estimation that are based on the best-avail9 able science, include assumptions of non-stationarity, 

10 and can be utilized by the user community. 

11 ‘‘(3) A framework for— 

12 ‘‘(A) the development of a National Guid13 ance Document for estimating extreme precipi14 tation in a changing climate; and 

15 ‘‘(B) evaluation of the strengths and chal16 lenges of the full spectrum of approaches, in17 cluding for probable maximum precipitation 

18 studies. 

19 ‘‘(4) A description of existing research needs in 

20 the field of precipitation estimation in order to mod21 ernize current methodologies and incorporate the im22 pacts of climate change on precipitation. 

23 ‘‘(5) A description of in-situ, airborne, and 

24 space-based observation requirements, that could en25 hance precipitation estimation and development of 

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1 models, including an examination of the use of geo2 graphic information systems and geospatial tech3 nology for integration, analysis, and visualization of 

4 precipitation data. 

5 ‘‘(6) A recommended plan for a Federal re6 search and development program, including speci7 fications for costs, timeframes, and responsible agen8 cies for addressing identified research needs. 

9 ‘‘(7) An analysis of the respective roles in pre10 cipitation estimation of various Federal agencies, 

11 academia, State, tribal, territorial, and local govern12 ments, and other public and private stakeholders. 

13 ‘‘(8) Recommendations for data management to 

14 promote long-term needs such as enabling retrospec15 tive analyses and data discoverability, interoper16 ability, and reuse. 

17 ‘‘(9) Recommendations for how data and serv18 ices from the entire enterprise can be best leveraged 

19 by the Federal Government. 

20 ‘‘(10) Such other topics as the Administrator or 

21 National Academies consider appropriate. 

22 ‘‘(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

23 is authorized $1,500,000 to the National Oceanic and At24 mospheric Administration to carry out this study. 

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1 ‘‘SEC. 602. IMPROVING PRECIPITATION FREQUENCY ESTI2 MATES. 

3 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall— 

4 ‘‘(1) not later than 5 years after the date of en5 actment of this title and not less than every 5 years 

6 thereafter, update precipitation frequency estimates 

7 for the United States, such that each update in8 cludes at least one precipitation frequency atlas that 

9 incorporates assumptions of non-stationarity; 

10 ‘‘(2) develop products targeted at users of this 

11 data in support of the mission of the National Oce12 anic and Atmospheric Administration; 

13 ‘‘(3) make publicly available, in a searchable, 

14 interoperable format, all precipitation frequency esti15 mate studies developed by the National Oceanic and 

16 Atmospheric Administration that the Administrator 

17 has the legal right to redistribute and that are 

18 deemed to be at an appropriate stage of development 

19 on an internet website of the National Oceanic and 

20 Atmospheric Administration; and 

21 ‘‘(4) ensure all precipitation frequency estimate 

22 data, products, and supporting documentation and 

23 metadata are preserved, curated, and served by the 

24 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 

25 as appropriate. 

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

2 are authorized to be appropriated to the National Oceanic 

3 and Atmospheric Administration to carry out this section 

4 $3,500,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2030. 

5 ‘‘SEC. 603. IMPROVING PROBABLE MAXIMUM PRECIPITA6 TION ESTIMATES. 

7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 

8 date on which the National Academies makes public the 

9 report under section 601, the Administrator, in consider10 ation of the report recommendations, shall consult with 

11 relevant partners, including users of the data, on the de12 velopment of a plan to— 

13 ‘‘(1) not later than 6 years after the completion 

14 of the National Academies report under section 601 

15 and not less than every 10 years thereafter, update 

16 probable maximum precipitation estimates for the 

17 United States, such that each update includes esti18 mates that incorporate assumptions of non19 stationarity; 

20 ‘‘(2) coordinate with partners to conduct re21 search in the field of extreme precipitation esti22 mation, in accordance with the research needs iden23 tified by the National Academies report under sec24 tion 601; 

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1 ‘‘(3) make publicly available, in a searchable, 

2 interoperable format, all probable maximum precipi3 tation studies developed by the National Oceanic and 

4 Atmospheric Administration that the Administrator 

5 has the legal right to redistribute and deemed to be 

6 at an appropriate state of development on an inter7 net website of the National Oceanic and Atmos8 pheric Administration; and 

9 ‘‘(4) ensure all probable maximum precipitation 

10 estimate data, products, and supporting documenta11 tion and metadata developed by the National Oce12 anic and Atmospheric Administration are preserved, 

13 curated, and served by the National Oceanic and At14 mospheric Administration, as appropriate. 

15 ‘‘(b) NATIONAL GUIDANCE DOCUMENT FOR THE DE16 VELOPMENT OF PROBABLE MAXIMUM PRECIPITATION

17 ESTIMATES.—The Administrator, in collaboration with 

18 Federal agencies, State, territorial, tribal and local gov19 ernments, academia and other partners the Administrator 

20 deems appropriate, shall develop a National Guidance 

21 Document that— 

22 ‘‘(1) provides best practices that can be fol23 lowed by Federal and State regulatory agencies, pri24 vate meteorological consultants, and other users that 

25 perform probable maximum precipitation studies; 

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1 ‘‘(2) considers the recommendations provided in 

2 the National Academies study in section 601; 

3 ‘‘(3) facilitates review of probable maximum 

4 precipitation studies by regulatory agencies; 

5 ‘‘(4) provides confidence in regional and site6 specific probable maximum precipitation estimates; 

7 and 

8 ‘‘(5) includes such other topics as the Adminis9 trator deems appropriate. 

10 ‘‘(c) PUBLICATION.—Not later than 2 years after the 

11 date on which the National Academies makes public the 

12 report under section 601, the Administrator shall make 

13 publicly available the National Guidance Document under 

14 subsection (b) on an internet website of the National Oce15 anic and Atmospheric Administration. 

16 ‘‘(d) UPDATES.—The Administrator shall update the 

17 National Guidance Document not less than once every 10 

18 years after the publication of the National Guidance Docu19 ment under subsection (c) and publish such updates in 

20 accordance with such subsection. 

21 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

22 are authorized to be appropriated to the National Oceanic 

23 and Atmospheric Administration to carry out this section: 

24 ‘‘(1) $13,000,000 for fiscal year 2022. 

25 ‘‘(2) $14,000,000 for fiscal year 2023. 

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1 ‘‘(3) $14,000,000 for fiscal year 2024. 

2 ‘‘(4) $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2025. 

3 ‘‘(5) $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2026. 

4 ‘‘(6) $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2027. 

5 ‘‘SEC. 604. DEFINITIONS. 

6 ‘‘ In this title: 

7 ‘‘(1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘Adminis8 trator’ means the Under Secretary of Commerce for 

9 Oceans and Atmosphere and Administrator of the 

10 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 

11 ‘‘(2) NATIONAL ACADEMIES.—The term ‘Na12 tional Academies’ means the National Academies of 

13 Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 

14 ‘‘(3) PRECIPITATION FREQUENCY ATLAS.—The 

15 term ‘precipitation frequency atlas’ means a geo16 graphical atlas, such as the NOAA Atlas 14, that 

17 contains precipitation frequency estimates for the 

18 United States with associated lower and upper 

19 bounds of a determined confidence interval and sup20 plementary information on temporal distribution of 

21 heavy precipitation, analysis of seasonality, and 

22 trends in annual maximum series data. 

23 ‘‘(4) PRECIPITATION FREQUENCY ESTIMATE.— 

24 The term ‘precipitation frequency estimate’ means 

25 the magnitude associated with specific average reVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:02 Apr 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1437.IH H1437
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1 currence interval or annual exceedance probability 

2 for a given duration. 

3 ‘‘(5) UNITED STATES.—The term ‘United 

4 States’ means, collectively, each State of the United 

5 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth 

6 of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Com7 monwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the 

8 Virgin Islands of the United States, and any other 

9 territory or possession of the United States.’’. 

10 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 1(b) of the 

11 Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 

12 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8501 note) is amended in the table of 

13 contents by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘TITLE VI—IMPROVING FEDERAL PRECIPITATION INFORMATION 

‘‘Sec. 601. Study on Precipitation Estimation. 

‘‘Sec. 602. Improving Precipitation Frequency Estimates. 

‘‘Sec. 603. Improving Probable Maximum Precipitation Estimates. 

‘‘Sec. 604. Definitions.’’. 

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