Hurricane Forecast Improvement Program Enhancement Act

Better hurricane forecasts to protect households

This bill would require NOAA's Under Secretary to maintain a national Hurricane Forecast Improvement Program. The program would aim to reduce loss of life and property from hurricanes. It would focus on four areas: rapid changes in hurricane intensity and track with probabilistic hazard mapping; inland, compound flooding, and storm surge forecasts; adding social, behavioral, and economic science to improve risk communication; and testing and using new observation tools and sensors, including crewed and uncrewed systems and instruments on aircraft, vessels, and satellites. The Under Secretary would award research grants, implement priorities from NOAA's 2019 report, and coordinate with federal social and behavioral science groups. The bill would require expanding computing resources, including cloud computing, and moving probabilistic forecast research into operations. It would also require an annual report, due June 1 each year through 2029, prepared with the Defense Department, that lists missed mission causes, forecast requirements not tasked and why, workforce shortfalls for observational data collection, and the status of hurricane technology and plans to transition prototypes into operations. These requirements would take effect upon enactment.