§8513 Tornado Warning Improvement and Extension Program

Summary

Create a tornado warning improvement and extension program. The Under Secretary must work with U.S. weather companies and universities. The program must try to cut deaths and economic losses by making tornado forecasts, predictions, and warnings more accurate and faster, including predicting tornadoes more than 1 hour before they hit. It must regularly test new kinds of observations like acoustic/infrasonic sensors, phased‑array radar, and mesonet data. Within 180 days after April 18, 2017, the Assistant Administrator for Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, with the Director of the National Weather Service, must write a plan listing the research, development, steps to turn research into use, needed resources, and timelines. After the plan is finished, the Under Secretary, through the Assistant Administrator and with the Director, must send Congress a budget proposal for those activities at least once each year.