anism for external partners to host Administra-
tion employees; and 
‘‘(F) establish mechanisms to enable all 
members of the consortium to archive and ac-
cess data required to support the work under 
this subsection. 
‘‘(3) COORDINATION.—In carrying out this sub-
section, the Under Secretary shall ensure the Na-
tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and 
its associated activities focus on research to oper-
ations and operations to research, including by co-
ordinating and collaborating with the Joint Center 
for Satellite Data Assimilation. 
‘‘(e) STUDY ON DATA MANAGEMENT.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days 
after the data of the enactment of this section, the 
Under Secretary shall seek to enter into an agree-
ment with a non-Federal entity to conduct a study 
on matters concerning data practices and manage-
ment needs at the National Oceanic and Atmos-
pheric Administration. In conducting the study, the 
outside entity shall— 
‘‘(A) assess the costs and benefits of cur-
rent data management needs for observational 
and operational mission requirements; 
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‘‘(B) develop recommendations regarding 
how to make more robust and cost-effective the 
data portfolio of the Administration; 
‘‘(C) identify data infrastructure tech-
nologies and needs that are essential to the per-
formance of modeling systems of the Adminis-
tration; 
‘‘(D) assess the sharing needs and prac-
tices of the Administration for both internal 
and external sharing dissemination; and 
‘‘(E) develop recommendations for methods 
of data infrastructure sharing, including data 
purchased from the commercial sector. 
‘‘(2) AUTHORIZATION
OF
APPROPRIATIONS.— 
From amounts authorized to be appropriated to the 
Commercial Data Program under section 302, there 
are authorized to be appropriated to carry out the 
study under paragraph (1) $1,000,000, to remain 
available until expended.’’. 
SEC. 305. CLERICAL AMENDMENT. 
The table of contents in section 1(b) of the Weather 
Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 is 
amended by striking the items relating to sections 302 and 
303 and inserting the following new items: 
‘‘Sec. 302. Commercial Data Program. 
‘‘Sec. 303. Commercial Data Pilot Program. 
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‘‘Sec. 304. Contracting authority and avoidance of duplication. 
‘‘Sec. 305. Data assimilation, management, and sharing practices.’’. 
TITLE IV—COMMUNICATING 
WEATHER TO THE PUBLIC 
SEC. 401. DEFINITIONS. 
In this title: 
(1) 
HAZARDOUS
WEATHER
OR
WATER 
EVENTS.—The term ‘‘hazardous weather or water 
events’’ has the meaning given such term in section 
406 of the Weather Research and Forecasting Inno-
vation Act of 2017 (Public Law 115–25; 131 Stat. 
109), as amended by section 402 of this Act. 
(2) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 
term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 
meaning given such term in section 101 of the High-
er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001). 
(3) 
NOAA 
WEATHER
RADIO.—The 
term 
‘‘NOAA Weather Radio’’ means the National Oce-
anic and Atmospheric Administration Weather Radio 
All Hazards network. 
(4) PUBLIC CLOUD.—The term ‘‘public cloud’’ 
means an information technology model in which 
service providers make computing services, including 
compute and storage and develop-and-deploy envi-
ronments and applications, available on-demand to 
organizations and individuals over the public inter-
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net or other means that allows for the widest dis-
semination of information. 
(5) WATCH; WARNING.—The terms ‘‘watch’’ 
and ‘‘warning’’ have the meanings given such terms 
in section 406 of the Weather Research and Fore-
casting Innovation Act of 2017 (Public Law 115–25; 
131 Stat. 109), as amended by section 402 of this 
Act. 
SEC. 402. HAZARDOUS WEATHER OR WATER EVENT RISK 
COMMUNICATION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 406 of the Weather Re-
search and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 (Public 
Law 115–25; 131 Stat. 109) is amended to read as fol-
lows: 
‘‘SEC. 406. HAZARDOUS WEATHER OR WATER EVENT RISK 
COMMUNICATION. 
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) 
HAZARDOUS
WEATHER
OR
WATER 
EVENTS.—The term ‘hazardous weather or water 
events’ means weather or water events that have a 
high risk of loss of life or property, including the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(A) Severe storms, such as hurricanes 
and short-fused, small-scale hazardous weather 
or hydrologic events produced by thunder-
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storms, including large hail, damaging winds, 
tornadoes, and flash floods. 
‘‘(B) Winter storms, such as freezing or 
frozen precipitation (including freezing rain, 
sleet, and snow), or combined effects of freezing 
or frozen precipitation and strong winds. 
‘‘(C) Other weather hazards, such as ex-
treme heat or cold, wildfire, drought, dense fog, 
high winds, and river, coastal, or lakeshore 
flooding. 
‘‘(2) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.— 
The term ‘institution of higher education’ has the 
meaning given such term in section 101 of the High-
er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001). 
‘‘(3) WATCH; WARNING.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The terms ‘watch’ and 
‘warning’, with respect to a hazardous weather 
or water event, mean products issued by the 
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra-
tion, intended for consumption by the general 
public, to alert the general public to the poten-
tial for or presence of such event and to inform 
action to prevent loss of life or property. 
‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—The terms ‘watch’ and 
‘warning’ do not include technical or specialized 
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