Plans and activities directed at achieving the goals of the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act 2017

The challenge continuously faced by our society and its servicing partners (e.g., emergency managers, broadcasters, America’s Weather Industry, etc.) as we tackle the impacts of extreme weather, water and climate events will be developing the ability to maximize the effectiveness of our decisions, so as to minimize the loss of life and property from severe storms and events. To that end, the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act (P.L. 115-25, also known as the “Weather Act”) was signed into law in April 2017, with goals to improve NOAA’s weather research through investments in observational, computing, and modeling capabilities, improvements in weather forecasting and prediction of high impact weather events, and expansion of commercial opportunities for the provision of weather data.

The Weather Act bolsters NOAA’s commitment to build a Weather-Ready Nation by providing a legislative mandate to conduct and advance weather research. This includes developing improved understanding of and forecast capabilities for atmospheric events and their impacts, as well as prioritizing development of more accurate, timely, and effective warnings, and forecasts of high impact weather events.

Focus areas of the Weather Act include:

• Improvement and extension of tornado forecasts, predictions, and warnings, including the prediction of tornadoes beyond one hour in advance;
• Developing and extending accurate hurricane forecasts and warnings;
• Improvements to U.S. numerical modeling capabilities;
• Improving the transition processes from research to operations (R2O); and
• Improving subseasonal (2 weeks to 3 months) and seasonal (3 months to 2 years) forecasts of temperature and precipitation and its impacts.

NOAA’s implementation strategy for the Weather Act includes improving the science behind extreme and severe weather events, and enhancing hazardous weather and water research. Furthermore, NOAA is continuously seeking to gain insight from the scientific community on the impact of the Weather Act on their research activities for possible opportunities of coordination and engagement, as well as the integration of social science to improve risk communication and unified modeling capabilities.

The session will highlight research activities and accomplishments aligned with the goals and mission of the Weather Act. Invited speakers will describe how their research efforts meets the requirements of the Weather Act by enabling improvements to weather forecasts, supporting community-based engagement programs focused on risk communication and preparedness for severe storm events, and encouraging collaboration across the weather enterprise.