Weather Act Reauthorization Act of 2025

(a) Hiring. The Director of the National Weather Service shall annually submit to the Under Secretary and Congress an assessment of the milestones, timelines, and service level expectations required for the expeditious hiring and timely on-boarding of employees of the National Weather Service. Each such assessment may include the following:

(1) Recommendations to outsource hiring to any entity other than the National Weather Service in order to meet such milestones, timelines, and service level expectations.

(2) Determinations of the number of staff and designated positions required at each forecasting office to provide services to protect lives and property in the geographic region of responsibility.

(b) Health and morale assessment. The Director of the National Weather Service shall contract or continue to partner with an entity other than the National Weather Service to conduct an assessment of medical impacts, including stress and long-term health impacts, on National Weather Service employees related to required rotating shift work. Such assessment may include options for mitigating such impacts on employees and recommendations for improving benefits related to required rotating shift work.

(c) Designation of service hydrologist

(1) In general. The Director of the National Weather Service may designate at least one service hydrologist at each Weather Forecast Office of the National Weather Service.

(2) Limitation. Nothing in this section may be construed to authorize or require a change in the authorized number of full time equivalent employees of the National Weather Service or otherwise result in the employment of any additional employees.

(3) Performance by other employees. Notwithstanding paragraphs (4) and (5), the Director of the National Weather Service may assign the performance of the responsibilities described in this subsection to such other staff of the National Weather Service as the Director considers appropriate.

(4) Responsibilities. In order to increase impact-based decision support services, each service coordination hydrologist designated under paragraph (1) shall, with respect to hydrology, carry out the following:

(A) Be responsible for providing service to the geographic area of responsibility covered by the Weather Forecast Office at which the service coordination hydrologist is employed to help ensure that users of products and services of the National Weather Service can respond effectively to improve outcomes from flood events.

(B) Liaise with users of products and services of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, such as emergency managers, the public, academia, media outlets, users in the hydropower, transportation, recreation, and agricultural communities, and forestry, land, fisheries, and water management interests, to evaluate the adequacy and usefulness of the products and services referred to in subparagraph (A), including extended range streamflow forecasts, water supply forecasts, drought outlooks, flood inundation mapping, coastal inundation, and flood warnings.

(C) Collaborate with the National Water Center, River Forecast Centers, other Weather Forecast Offices, the National Integrate Drought Information System, Administration offices, and Federal, State, local, and Tribal government agencies, as the Director considers appropriate, in developing, proposing, and implementing plans to develop, modify, or tailor such products and services to improve the usefulness of such products and services.

(D) Engage in interagency partnerships with Federal, State, local, and Tribal government agencies to explore the use of forecast-informed reservoir operations to reduce flood risk and inform decisions related to water resources management.

(E) Ensure the maintenance and accuracy of flooding and water resource management partner call lists, appropriate office hydrologic service policy or procedures, and other hydrologic information or dissemination methodologies or strategies.

(F) Work closely with Federal, State, local, and Tribal emergency and floodplain management agencies, and other agencies relating to disaster management, to ensure a planned, coordinated, and effective preparedness and response effort.

(5) Additional responsibilities. A service coordination hydrologist designated under this subsection may, with respect to hydrology—

(A) work with a State agency to develop plans for promoting more effective use of products and services of the National Weather Service throughout the State concerned;

(B) identify priority community preparedness objectives;

(C) develop plans to carry out the responsibilities described in paragraph (4); and

(D) conduct flooding event preparedness planning and citizen education efforts with and through various State, local, and Tribal government agencies and other disaster management-related organizations.