H.R. 5089

Weather Act Reauthorization Act of 2025

Sponsor: Frank D. Lucas

26 cosponsors
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Official summary

Written by the Congressional Research Service.

Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Reauthorization Act of 2025 or the Weather Act Reauthorization Act of 2025

This bill reauthorizes, revises, and establishes several programs related to weather forecasting, monitoring, and research. 

For example, the bill reauthorizes through FY2030 programs that are administered by the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), including the U.S. Weather Research Program. It also provides statutory authority for NOAA's Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment (known as VORTEX-USA).

The bill also requires NOAA to establish programs that support weather forecasting technology, including improvements to radar accuracy, weather forecasting in underserved areas, and coastal flooding forecasting. NOAA must also acquire weather-related data from the private sector and establish a pilot program to test the compatibility of this data with NOAA infrastructure. 

In addition, NOAA must improve weather-related communication systems, including those related to hazardous weather events, through system upgrades that use more modern technology (e.g., cloud-based services) and that allow for expanded coverage (e.g., in rural areas).

Finally, NOAA must administer programs that support weather forecasting for agricultural and water management, including pilot programs to improve precipitation forecasts in the western and central states and a soil moisture monitoring network. 

Text of the bill

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I Reauthorization of the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017

II Enhancing Federal Weather Forecasting and Innovation

III Commercial Weather and Environmental Observations

IV Communicating Weather to the Public

V Improving Weather Information for Agriculture and Water Management

Sec. 505. National water center

Section 301 of the Coordinated Ocean Observations and Research Act of 2020 (42 U.S.C. 10371) is amended—

(1) in subsection (a)—

(A) in paragraph (1)(A)—

(i) in the matter preceding clause (i), by inserting as a component of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction after center;

(ii) in clause (i), by striking and after the semicolon;

(iii) in clause (ii), by striking the period and inserting ; and; and

(iv) by adding at the end the following new clause:

Text this section adds to the law

(iii) to provide service backup capabilities and additional mission support services for River Forecast Centers.

; and

(B) in paragraph (2), by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:

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(F) Serving as the primary Center for collaboration and coordination of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s water research and operational activities with existing Federal centers and networks, including the Department of Agriculture, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Reclamation, the United States Geological Survey, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

(2) by striking subsection (b) and redesignating subsections (c) through (e) as subsections (b) through (d) respectively; and

(3) by amending subsection (c), as so redesignated, to read as follows:

Text this section adds to the law

(c) Authorization of appropriations. There is authorized to be appropriated $46,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2030 to carry out this section.