I 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 8397 
To authorize the National Mesonet Program of the National Weather Service, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 15, 2022 
Mrs. BICE of Oklahoma (for herself, Mr. TONKO, and Mr. LUCAS) introduced 
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, 
and Technology 
A BILL 
To authorize the National Mesonet Program of the National 
Weather Service, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Mesonet Au-
thorization Act’’. 
SEC. 2. NATIONAL MESONET PROGRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Title I of the Weather Research 
and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8501 
et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following 
new section: 
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‘‘SEC. 111. NATIONAL MESONET PROGRAM. 
‘‘(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
‘‘(1) Since the initial establishment of the Na-
tional Mesonet Program, a public-private partner-
ship program, the Program has leveraged data col-
lected by existing weather observation networks to— 
‘‘(A) provide accurate, real-time observa-
tions to support weather forecasters, emergency 
response, and all-weather sensitive activities 
across the United States; 
‘‘(B) address persistent impediments, iden-
tified in a 2009 National Academy of Sciences 
Report, From the Ground Up, to fulfill the 
need for broader and denser environmental ob-
servation networks to improve severe weather 
lead-times; 
‘‘(C) help achieve major improvements for 
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin-
istration and the broader American Weather 
Enterprise, as identified in the 2011 National 
Academy of Sciences Report, The National 
Weather Service Modernization and Associated 
Restructuring; 
‘‘(D) increase the amount of non-Federal 
weather data available to the Federal Govern-
ment by orders of magnitude; and 
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‘‘(E) improve understanding of the impact, 
size, and duration of mesoscale weather events. 
‘‘(2) The National Mesonet Program is a crit-
ical component of Administration operations and 
provides reliable, real-time observation capabilities 
for the physical environment that enhances pre-
diction, preparedness, and response strategies to se-
vere weather events. 
‘‘(3) The National Mesonet Program is a pri-
mary input, ingest, and quality-assurance/quality- 
control for non-Federal weather data that are crit-
ical to operations, including situational awareness, 
forecasting, 
decision 
support, 
research, 
in-situ 
verification and validation for emerging satellite 
technologies, and numerical weather prediction mod-
eling. 
‘‘(b) PROGRAM.—There is in the National Weather 
Service a program to be known as the National Mesonet 
Program (in this section referred to as the ‘Program’). 
The Program shall— 
‘‘(1) be administered by the Under Secretary; 
and 
‘‘(2) obtain observations from observing plat-
forms in all geographic environments to improve un-
derstanding of and forecast capabilities for atmos-
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pheric events, with a prioritization on leveraging 
available commercial, academic, and other non-Fed-
eral weather data to enhance coordination across the 
private, public, and academic sectors of the United 
States weather enterprise. 
‘‘(c) PROGRAM
ELEMENTS.—The Program shall 
carry out the following activities: 
‘‘(1) Improve environmental observations used 
by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis-
tration and the National Weather Service to support 
baseline forecasts and warnings that protect the Na-
tion’s citizens, businesses, military, and government 
agencies and enable such individuals and entities to 
operate in safe, efficient, and orderly manners. 
‘‘(2) When demonstrably cost effective, leverage 
existing networks of environmental monitoring sta-
tions to increase the quantity and density of weather 
observations available to the Administration. 
‘‘(3) Establish means to integrate greater den-
sity and type of weather observations into the Pro-
gram on an annual basis, including by encouraging 
local and regional networks of environmental moni-
toring stations to participate in the Program. 
‘‘(4) Yield increased quantities of boundary- 
layer data to improve numerical weather prediction 
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performance, including regarding subseasonal to sea-
sonal timescales. 
‘‘(5) Provide the critical technical and adminis-
trative infrastructure needed to facilitate rapid inte-
gration and sustained use of new and emerging net-
works of environmental monitoring stations antici-
pated in coming years. 
‘‘(6) Expand and enhance environmental obser-
vational networks in the roadway environment to 
provide real-time road weather and surface condi-
tions for surface transportation and related eco-
nomic sectors. 
‘‘(7) Identify available terrestrial or marine 
weather data, or quantifiable gaps in such data, to 
improve the understanding of air-sea interactions. 
‘‘(8) Support the National Weather Service in 
reaching its target of a 30-minute warning time for 
severe weather through better predictive model algo-
rithms driven by increasingly effective observations. 
‘‘(9) Coordinate with existing Administration 
data used for forecasts, including data from the Na-
tional Environmental Satellite, Data, and Informa-
tion Service, the Integrated Ocean Observing Sys-
tem, the Global Ocean Monitoring and Observing 
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Program, and National Ocean Service water level 
stations. 
‘‘(10) Identify and communicate to the Office of 
Oceanic and Atmospheric Research and other part-
ners priorities of research and development needed 
to advance observations in the Program. 
‘‘(d) FINANCIAL AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In furtherance of the Pro-
gram, the Under Secretary may, to the extent 
amounts are made available, award financial assist-
ance to State, Tribal, private, and academic entities 
seeking to build, expand, or upgrade equipment and 
capacity of mesonet systems. Financial assistance 
under this subsection may be made in coordination 
or addition to awards from other Federal agencies. 
‘‘(2) AGREEMENTS.—Before receiving financial 
assistance under paragraph (1), the State, Tribal, 
private, or academic entity seeking financial assist-
ance under this subsection shall enter into an agree-
ment with the Under Secretary to provide data to 
the Program, subject to verification of the relative 
operational value and evaluation of the cost of such 
data, for use in weather prediction, severe weather 
warnings, and emergency response. 
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‘‘(3) ASSISTANCE AND OTHER SUPPORT.—The 
Under Secretary may provide technical assistance, 
project implementation support, and guidance to en-
tities seeking financial assistance under this sub-
section. 
‘‘(4) TERMS.—In providing financial assistance 
under this subsection, the Under Secretary shall es-
tablish terms to ensure that each State, Tribal, pri-
vate, or academic entity that receives financial as-
sistance under this subsection receives a level of 
Federal support commensurate with the quality and 
other characteristics of the data to be provided. 
‘‘(5) DETERMINATION.—A State, Tribal, pri-
vate, or academic entity may receive financial assist-
ance under this subsection only if the Under Sec-
retary determines such entity shall provide sufficient 
non-Federal financial support to maintain the qual-
ity of the mesonet system and associated data stand-
ards required by the Program. 
‘‘(e) ADVISORY COMMITTEE.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall 
ensure the Program has an active advisory com-
mittee of subject matter experts to identify, imple-
ment, procure, and track data needed to supplement 
the Program, and recommend improvements, expan-
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