IV 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 839 

Recognizing the 150th anniversary of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration’s National Weather Service. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 7, 2020 

Ms. SHERRILL (for herself and Mr. MARSHALL) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 

RESOLUTION 

Recognizing the 150th anniversary of the National Oceanic 

and Atmospheric Administration’s National Weather Service. 

Whereas, on February 9, 1870, President Ulysses S. Grant 

signed a Joint Resolution of Congress requiring the Secretary of War to ‘‘provide for taking meteorological observations at the military stations in the interior of the 

continent, and at other points in the States and Territories . . . and for giving notice on the northern lakes and 

on the seacoast, by magnetic telegraph and marine signals, of the approach and force of storms’’ thereby creating the United States Army Signal Service’s Division of 

Telegrams and Reports for the Benefit of Commerce; 

Whereas, on October 1, 1890, President Benjamin Harrison 

signed Senate Bill S. 1454, transferring the meteorologVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:53 Feb 07, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR839.IH HR839

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•HRES 839 IH 

ical responsibilities of the Signal Service to the Department of Agriculture, and is thus known as the Weather 

Service’s first organic Act; 

Whereas the Weather Bureau began operations on July 1, 

1891; 

Whereas in response to the important role the Weather Bureau played in the burgeoning aviation and commercial 

community, President Franklin D. Roosevelt transferred 

the Weather Bureau to the Department of Commerce in 

1940; 

Whereas with the enactment of the National Environmental 

Policy Act, the Weather Bureau was renamed the National Weather Service and made a component of the new 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

(NOAA) on October 5, 1970; 

Whereas with the enactment of the Weather Research and 

Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017, and its partial reauthorization in 2019, Congress reaffirmed and emboldened 

the critical mission of NOAA’s National Weather Service, 

including the provision of impact-based decision support 

services to core partners; and 

Whereas, in 2020, the National Weather Service celebrates 

150 years protecting lives and property and enhancing 

the Nation’s economy, an enduring mission it retains to 

this day: Now, therefore be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) recognizes that the National Oceanic and 

3 Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National 

4 Weather Service and its predecessor agencies have 

5 been indispensable to the quality of life in the 


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•HRES 839 IH 

1 United States, from the local to the Federal level, 

2 for 150 years and continues to build a Weather3 Ready Nation, where society is ready, responsive, 

4 and resilient to extreme weather, water, and climate 

5 events; 

6 (2) honors the vital role NOAA’s National 

7 Weather Service has played in the United States 

8 throughout 150 years of science and service; 

9 (3) remembers the deep and lasting impact the 

10 National Weather Service and its predecessor agency 

11 employees have made protecting lives and property 

12 throughout its 150-year history in the United 

13 States; and 

14 (4) celebrates the continued position of NOAA’s 

15 National Weather Service as the Nation’s official 

16 Government source for providing weather, water, 

17 and climate data, forecasts and warnings for the 

18 protection of life and property and enhancement of 

19 the national economy. 

Æ 


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