HR3816-119

What This Bill Does

The Weather Act Reauthorization Act of 2025 is a large NOAA reauthorization and modernization bill. It restates NOAA's public-safety priority for accurate, timely forecasts, National Weather Service communications, observational infrastructure, and impact-based decision support. It authorizes OAR weather research funding for fiscal years 2026 through 2030, including weather laboratories and cooperative institutes, the U.S. Weather Research Program, tornado, severe storm, next-generation radar research, and the Joint Technology Transfer Initiative. It maintains and updates VORTEX-USA for tornado warnings, hurricane forecast improvement, tsunami warning, research, and education with $30 million per year, observing-system planning, simulation experiments, computing prioritization, the Earth Prediction Innovation Center, satellite architecture planning, uncrewed observing work, interagency meteorological services, ocean observations, precipitation forecasting, a Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation Program, Radar Next, data-void work for highly vulnerable areas, atmospheric river forecasting, coastal flooding and storm surge forecasting, aviation weather data, NESDIS partnerships and transition planning, Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System transition, reanalysis and reforecasting, NWS workforce assessments, artificial intelligence forecasting, atmospheric composition observations, and coastal marine fog forecasting. It restructures commercial data programs to test and license private surface, airborne, space, coastal, ocean, imagery, metadata, and model components while establishing open data standards and avoiding duplication. It modernizes hazardous-weather communication, National Weather Service instant messaging, NOAA Weather Radio, post-storm surveys, alert dissemination, and social, behavioral, and economic data collection. It also updates weather and climate information for agriculture and water management, reauthorizes NIDIS drought work, National Mesonet, soil moisture monitoring, National Water Center work, satellite transfer briefings, harmful algal bloom and hypoxia programs, heat-health interagency systems, landslide preparedness, Arctic meteorological observations, NOAA unfunded priorities lists, and technical assistance for Pacific island countries and territories.

Who Benefits and How

National Weather Service forecasters benefit from upgraded communications, workforce planning, AWIPS transition strategy, and improved observation data. Emergency managers benefit from better tornado, hurricane, storm surge, flood, heat, tsunami, drought, landslide, and hazardous-weather decision support. Weather industry firms benefit from commercial data pilot programs, licensing standards, contracting authority, and NOAA-private data partnerships. Academic weather researchers benefit from OAR reauthorization, cooperative institutes, VORTEX-USA grants, testbeds, and research-to-operations programs. Farmers and water managers benefit from drought, soil moisture, precipitation, National Mesonet, and water-prediction programs. Coastal and Great Lakes communities benefit from tsunami, storm-surge, harmful algal bloom, hypoxia, marine fog, and ocean observation work.

Who Bears the Burden and How

NOAA leadership must coordinate dozens of reauthorized programs, plans, reports, briefings, standards, and interagency committees. National Weather Service managers must modernize communications, weather radio, workforce assessment, surveys, and warning products. OAR laboratories must execute multi-year research appropriations, testbeds, grants, and technology-transfer work. NESDIS staff must manage satellite architecture planning, partnership programs, commercial data transition, and operational planning. Commercial data vendors must meet NOAA quality, licensing, attribution, metadata, and compatibility standards. Federal taxpayers fund the expanded weather, water, heat, landslide, tsunami, harmful-algal-bloom, and research authorizations.

Key Provisions

• Reauthorizes NOAA weather research, forecasting, warning, and public-safety programs through fiscal year 2030.
• Funds OAR weather laboratories, cooperative institutes, U.S. Weather Research Program, severe-storm research, and technology transfer.
• Strengthens tornado, hurricane, precipitation, atmospheric river, coastal flooding, storm surge, aviation, AI, and reforecasting programs.
• Creates or updates Radar Next, data-void work, commercial data, ocean observations, satellite planning, and open data standards.
• Improves NWS communications, NOAA Weather Radio, hazardous-weather risk communication, post-storm surveys, and alert dissemination.
• Supports agriculture, water management, drought, mesonet, soil moisture, National Water Center, harmful algal bloom, heat-health, landslide, Arctic, and Pacific island programs.
• Requires recurring reports, briefings, workforce assessments, unfunded-priority lists, and interagency coordination across NOAA and partner agencies.