II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1284 

To improve forecasting and understanding of tornadoes and other hazardous 

weather, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 25, 2023 

Mr. WICKER (for himself, Mr. CRUZ, Mr. THUNE, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mrs. 

HYDE-SMITH, Mr. YOUNG, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. BOOZMAN, and Mr. 

PETERS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To improve forecasting and understanding of tornadoes and 

other hazardous weather, 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 ‘‘Tornado Observations 

5 Research and Notification Assessment for Development of 

6 Operations Act’’ or the ‘‘TORNADO Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

8 In this Act: 


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1 (1) HAZARDOUS WEATHER AND WATER

2 EVENTS.—The term ‘‘hazardous weather and water 

3 events’’ means weather and water events that have 

4 a high risk of loss of life or property, including— 

5 (A) severe storms, such as hurricanes and 

6 short-fused, small-scale hazardous weather or 

7 hydrologic events produced by thunderstorms, 

8 including large hail, damaging winds, torna9 does, and flash floods; 

10 (B) winter storms, such as freezing or fro11 zen precipitation (including freezing rain, sleet, 

12 and snow), or combined effects of freezing or 

13 frozen precipitation and strong winds; and 

14 (C) other weather hazards, such as ex15 treme heat or cold, wildfire, drought, dense fog, 

16 high winds, river flooding and lakeshore flood17 ing. 

18 (2) HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGE OR UNI19 VERSITY.—The term ‘‘historically Black college or 

20 university’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘part B 

21 institution’’ in section 322 of the Higher Education 

22 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1061). 

23 (3) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 

24 term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 


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1 meaning given the term in section 101(a) of the 

2 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)). 

3 (4) NATIONAL LABORATORY.—The term ‘‘Na4 tional Laboratory’’ has the meaning given the term 

5 in section 2 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 

6 U.S.C. 15801). 

7 (5) TRIBAL GOVERNMENT.—The term ‘‘Tribal 

8 government’’ means the recognized governing body 

9 of any Indian or Alaska Native tribe, band, nation, 

10 pueblo, village, community, component band, or com11 ponent reservation, individually identified (including 

12 parenthetically) in the list published most recently as 

13 of the date of enactment of this Act pursuant to sec14 tion 104 of the Federally Recognized Indian Tribe 

15 List Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 5131). 

16 (6) UNDER SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Under 

17 Secretary’’ means the Under Secretary of Commerce 

18 for Oceans and Atmosphere. 

19 SEC. 3. HAZARDOUS WEATHER AND WATER EVENT RISK 

20 COMMUNICATION. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall main22 tain and improve the system of the National Oceanic and 

23 Atmospheric Administration by which the risks of haz24 ardous weather and water events are communicated to the 


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1 general public, with the goal of informing action and en2 couraging response to prevent loss of life and property. 

3 (b) HAZARD RISK COMMUNICATION IMPROVEMENT

4 AND SIMPLIFICATION.— 

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

6 maintain a hazard risk communication office (in this 

7 subsection referred to as the ‘‘Office’’), for the pur8 poses of simplifying and improving the communica9 tion of hazardous weather and water event risks. 

10 (2) TERMINOLOGY.—The Office shall identify, 

11 eliminate, or modify unnecessary, redundant, or con12 fusing terms for hazardous weather and water event 

13 communications and add new terminology, as appro14 priate. 

15 (3) COMMUNICATIONS IMPROVEMENT.—The Of16 fice shall improve the form, content, and methods of 

17 hazardous weather and water event communications 

18 to more clearly inform action and increase the likeli19 hood that the public takes such action to prevent the 

20 loss of life or property. 

21 (4) EVALUATIONS.—The Office shall, in coordi22 nation with the performance branch of the National 

23 Weather Service, develop metrics for that branch to 

24 track and evaluate the degree to which hazardous 


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1 weather and water event communications result in 

2 action and response. 

3 (5) SUPPORT PLAN.—The Office shall develop a 

4 plan for the purpose of supporting the activities de5 scribed in paragraph (3). The plan shall be periodi6 cally updated and informed by internal and extra7 mural research and the results of the evaluation of 

8 hazardous weather and water event communications 

9 conducted under paragraph (4). 

10 (6) METHODS.—In carrying out this subsection, 

11 the Office shall develop and implement recommenda12 tions that— 

13 (A) are based on the best and most recent 

14 understanding from social, behavioral, risk, and 

15 communication science research; 

16 (B) are validated by social, behavioral, 

17 risk, and communication science, taking into ac18 count the importance of methods that support 

19 reproduction and replication of scientific stud20 ies, use of rigorous statistical analyses, and, as 

21 applicable, data analysis supported by artificial 

22 intelligence and machine learning technologies; 

23 (C) account for the needs of various demo24 graphics, vulnerable populations, and geo25 graphic regions; 


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1 (D) account for the differences between 

2 various types of weather and water hazards; 

3 (E) respond to the needs of Federal, State, 

4 and local government partners and media part5 ners; and 

6 (F) account for necessary changes in the 

7 infrastructure, technology, and protocols for 

8 creating and disseminating federally operated 

9 watches and warnings. 

10 (7) COORDINATION.—In implementing this Act, 

11 the Office shall coordinate with— 

12 (A) Federal partners, including National 

13 Laboratories, Cooperative Institutes, and re14 gional integrated sciences and assessments pro15 grams; 

16 (B) State and local government partners; 

17 (C) Tribal governments; 

18 (D) institutions of higher education; and 

19 (E) media partners. 

20 (8) TIMELINESS AND CONSISTENCY.—The Of21 fice shall develop best practices and guidance for en22 suring timely and consistent communication across 

23 public facing platforms that disseminate hazardous 

24 weather and water event information. 


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1 (c) HAZARD COMMUNICATION RESEARCH AND EN2 GAGEMENT.— 

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

4 establish or maintain a research program— 

5 (A) to modernize the creation and commu6 nication of risk-based, statistically reliable, 

7 probabilistic hazard information to inform effec8 tive actions and responses to hazardous weather 

9 and water events; and 

10 (B) to improve the fundamental social, be11 havioral, risk, and communication science re12 garding hazardous weather and water event 

13 communication. 

14 (2) COORDINATION.—In carrying out the re15 search program required by paragraph (1), the 

16 Under Secretary shall coordinate and communicate 

17 with States, Tribal governments, localities, and 

18 emergency managers on research priorities and re19 sults. 

20 (3) PILOT PROGRAM FOR TORNADO HAZARD

21 COMMUNICATION REQUIRED.— 

22 (A) IN GENERAL.—To further research 

23 into hazard communication, the Under Sec24 retary, in collaboration with one or more eligible 

25 institutions, shall establish a pilot program for 


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1 tornado hazard communication to test the effec2 tiveness of implementing the research conducted 

3 under this subsection with respect to tornadoes. 

4 (B) ELIGIBLE INSTITUTION DEFINED.—In 

5 this paragraph, the term ‘‘eligible institution’’ 

6 means any of the following: 

7 (i) A historically Black college or uni8 versity located in an area of persistent pov9 erty that is subjected to frequent severe 

10 weather, such as tornadoes, hurricanes, 

11 and floods. 

12 (ii) An institution of higher education 

13 in close proximity to a National Weather 

14 Service Weather Forecast Office of the Na15 tional Weather Service. 

16 (d) DATA MANAGEMENT.—The Under Secretary 

17 shall establish, maintain, and improve a central repository 

18 system for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin19 istration for social, behavioral, risk, and economic data re20 lated to the communication of hazardous weather and 

21 water events, including data developed or received pursu22 ant to paragraphs (3), (4), and (5) of subsection (b). 

23 (e) DIGITAL WATERMARKING.—The Under Secretary 

24 shall develop methods to reduce the likelihood of unauthor25 ized tampering with online hazardous weather and water 


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1 event risk communication, such as developing digital wa2 termarks. 

3 SEC. 4. WARN-ON-FORECAST STRATEGIC PLAN. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year after the 

5 date of the enactment of this Act, the Under Secretary 

6 shall prepare and submit to Congress a strategic plan for 

7 developing and prioritizing the implementation of high8 resolution probabilistic forecast guidance for hazardous 

9 weather and water events using a next-generation weather 

10 forecast and warning framework. 

11 (b) PLAN ELEMENTS.—The strategic plan required 

12 by subsection (a) shall include the following: 

13 (1) A discussion of— 

14 (A) the priorities and needs of vulnerable 

15 populations and National Weather Service part16 ners; and 

17 (B) high-performance computing, visualiza18 tion, and dissemination needs. 

19 (2) A timeline and guidance for implementation 

20 of— 

21 (A) high-resolution numerical weather pre22 diction models; 

23 (B) methods for meeting the high-perform24 ance computing, visualization, and dissemina25 tion needs discussed under paragraph (1)(B); 


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1 (C) real-time high-resolution probabilistic 

2 forecasts; 

3 (D) improved observations, including 

4 through radars, satellites, and uncrewed aerial 

5 systems; 

6 (E) a flexible framework to communicate 

7 clear and simple hazardous weather and water 

8 event information to the public; and 

9 (F) social, behavioral, risk, and commu10 nication research to improve the forecaster 

11 operational environment and societal informa12 tion reception and response. 

13 SEC. 5. TORNADO RATING SYSTEM. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall, in col15 laboration with such stakeholders as the Under Secretary 

16 considers appropriate— 

17 (1) evaluate the system used as of the date of 

18 the enactment of this Act to rate the severity of tor19 nadoes; and 

20 (2) determine whether updates to that system 

21 are required to ensure that the ratings accurately re22 flect the severity of tornadoes. 

23 (b) UPDATE REQUIRED.—If the Under Secretary de24 termines under subsection (a) that updates to the tornado 


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1 rating system are necessary, the Under Secretary shall up2 date the system. 

3 SEC. 6. POST-STORM SURVEYS AND ASSESSMENTS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall per5 form one or more post-storm surveys and assessments fol6 lowing each hazardous weather or water event determined 

7 by the Under Secretary to be of sufficient societal impor8 tance to warrant a post-event survey and assessment. 

9 (b) COORDINATION.—The Under Secretary shall co10 ordinate with Federal, State, and local governments, Trib11 al governments, private entities, and relevant institutions 

12 of higher education when conducting post-storm surveys 

13 and assessments under subsection (a) in order to optimize 

14 data collection, sharing, and integration. 

15 (c) DATA AVAILABILITY.—The Under Secretary shall 

16 make the data obtained from each post-storm survey and 

17 assessment conducted under subsection (a) available to the 

18 public as soon as practicable after conducting the survey 

19 and assessment. 

20 (d) IMPROVEMENT.—The Under Secretary shall— 

21 (1) investigate the role of uncrewed aerial sys22 tems in data collection during post-storm surveys 

23 and assessments conducted under subsection (a); 

24 (2) identify gaps in and update tactics and pro25 cedures to enhance the efficiency and reliability of 


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1 data obtained from post-storm surveys and assess2 ments; and 

3 (3) increase the number of post-storm commu4 nity impact studies, including— 

5 (A) surveying individual responses; 

6 (B) conducting review of the accuracy of 

7 prior risk evaluations; 

8 (C) evaluating the efficacy of prior mitiga9 tion activity; and 

10 (D) gathering survivability statistics. 

11 (e) SUPPORT FOR EMPLOYEES.—The Under Sec12 retary shall provide training, resources, and access to pro13 fessional counseling to support the emotional and mental 

14 health and well-being of employees conducting post-storm 

15 surveys and assessments under subsection (a). 

16 SEC. 7. VORTEX-USA PROGRAM. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 103 of the Weather Re18 search and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 

19 8513) is amended— 

20 (1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘TOR21 NADO WARNING IMPROVEMENT AND EXTEN22 SION’’ and inserting ‘‘VORTEX-USA’’; 

23 (2) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘establish a 

24 tornado warning improvement and extension proVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:14 Apr 28, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1284.IS S1284

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1 gram’’ and inserting ‘‘maintain a program for rap2 idly improving tornado forecast and warnings’’; 

3 (3) by redesignating subsections (d) and (e) as 

4 subsections (f) and (g), respectively; 

5 (4) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol6 lowing: 

7 ‘‘(d) WARNINGS.—The program required by sub8 section (a) shall— 

9 ‘‘(1) continue the research necessary to develop 

10 and deploy probabilistic weather forecast guidance 

11 technology for tornadoes; and 

12 ‘‘(2) incorporate, as appropriate, hazard com13 munication research. 

14 ‘‘(e) RESEARCH.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall, 

16 through the program required by subsection (a), 

17 award grants for research that focuses on improv18 ing— 

19 ‘‘(A) the social, behavioral, risk, commu20 nication, and economic sciences related to 

21 vulnerabilities, risk communication, and delivery 

22 of information critical for saving lives and prop23 erty related to tornadoes; and 

24 ‘‘(B) the physical sciences, engineering, 

25 and technology related to tornado formation, 


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1 the interactions of tornadoes with the built and 

2 natural environment, and the interaction of tor3 nadoes and hurricanes. 

4 ‘‘(2) PRIORITY INSTITUTIONS.— 

5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In awarding grants 

6 under paragraph (1), the Under Secretary shall 

7 prioritize awarding grants to minority-serving 

8 institutions. 

9 ‘‘(B) DEFINITION OF MINORITY-SERVING

10 INSTITUTION.—In this paragraph, the term ‘mi11 nority-serving institution’ means— 

12 ‘‘(i) a part B institution (as defined in 

13 section 322 of the Higher Education Act 

14 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1061)); 

15 ‘‘(ii) a Hispanic-serving institution (as 

16 defined in section 502(a) of that Act (20 

17 U.S.C. 1101a(a))); 

18 ‘‘(iii) a Tribal College or University 

19 (as defined in section 316(b) of that Act 

20 (20 U.S.C. 1059c(b))); 

21 ‘‘(iv) an Alaska Native-serving institu22 tion (as defined in section 317(b) of that 

23 Act (20 U.S.C. 1059d(b))); 


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1 ‘‘(v) a Native Hawaiian-serving insti2 tution (as defined in section 317(b) of that 

3 Act (20 U.S.C. 1059d(b))); 

4 ‘‘(vi) a Predominantly Black Institu5 tion (as defined in section 318(b) of that 

6 Act (20 U.S.C. 1059e(b))); 

7 ‘‘(vii) an Asian American and Native 

8 American Pacific Islander-serving institu9 tion (as defined in section 320(b) of that 

10 Act (20 U.S.C. 1059g(b))); or 

11 ‘‘(viii) a Native American-serving, 

12 nontribal institution (as defined in section 

13 319(b) of that Act (20 U.S.C. 

14 1059f(b))).’’; and 

15 (5) by adding at the end the following: 

16 ‘‘(h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

17 is authorized to be appropriated to the Under Secretary 

18 to carry out this section $11,000,000 for each of fiscal 

19 years 2023 through 2030, of which not less than 

20 $2,000,000 each fiscal year shall be used for grants 

21 awarded under subsection (e).’’. 

22 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

23 in section 1(b) of the Weather Research and Forecasting 

24 Innovation Act of 2017 (Public Law 115–25; 131 Stat. 


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1 91) is amended by striking the item relating to section 

2 103 and inserting the following: 

‘‘Sec. 103. VORTEX-USA program.’’. 

3 SEC. 8. REPORTS. 

4 (a) WEATHER RESEARCH AND FORECASTING INNO5 VATION ACT OF 2017.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 403 of the Weather 

7 Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 

8 (15 U.S.C. 8543) is amended by striking subsection 

9 (d). 

10 (2) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—Section 403(a) 

11 of such Act (15 U.S.C. 8543(a)) is amended by in12 serting ‘‘the’’ after ‘‘Director of’’. 

13 (b) NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMIN14 ISTRATION AUTHORIZATION ACT OF 1992.—Section 106 

15 of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

16 Authorization Act of 1992 (Public Law 102–567; 106 

17 Stat. 4274) is amended by striking subsection (c) (15 

18 U.S.C. 1537). 

19 SEC. 9. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE REPORT 

20 ON HAZARDOUS WEATHER AND WATER 

21 ALERT DISSEMINATION. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 540 days after the 

23 date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 

24 of the United States shall submit to the Committee on 

25 Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and 


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1 the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the 

2 House of Representatives a report that examines the infor3 mation technology infrastructure of the National Weather 

4 Service of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis5 tration, specifically regarding the system for timely public 

6 notification of hazardous weather and water event alerts 

7 and updates. 

8 (b) ELEMENTS.—The report required by subsection 

9 (a) shall include the following: 

10 (1) An analysis of the information technology 

11 infrastructure of the National Weather Service, in12 cluding software and hardware capabilities and limi13 tations, including an examination of server and data 

14 storage methods, broadband, data management, and 

15 data sharing. 

16 (2) An identification of secondary and tertiary 

17 fail-safes for the timely distribution of hazardous 

18 weather and water event alerts to the public. 

19 (3) A determination of the extent to which pub20 lic notifications are delayed and an identification of 

21 corrective measures that do not add additional noti22 fication time. 

23 (4) An assessment of whether collaboration with 

24 other Federal offices, States, or private entities 

25 could reduce delays in notifications to the public. 


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1 (5) A description of actions being undertaken to 

2 better identify critical steps in the hazards notifica3 tion process that may be vulnerable to disruption or 

4 failure in the event of communication, technologic, 

5 or computational failure. 

Æ 


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