PRIA, Government Policy, Made Personal

Summary

The National Weather Service must improve the Cooperative Observer Program. It must help state-run programs and places with few observers, work with state weather offices to add stations, and—when possible—keep stations that have reported for more than 50 years staffed by volunteers. It must also make recruiting new volunteers a priority, add automated reporting to cut down on manual work, and provide easy, combined ways to report things that cannot be automated, like drought, snow, and hazardous weather. At least every 180 days the Service must check in with state and regional offices about station status. It must also work with other federal agencies, such as the Forest Service, the Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Geological Survey, to grow the network and better use existing stations, staff, and equipment.

Title 15, §8550

Commerce and Trade, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)In general

The Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, acting through the National Weather Service, shall improve the Cooperative Observer Program by—

(1)providing support to—

(A)State-coordinated programs relating to the Program; and

(B)States and regions where observations provided through the Program are scarce;

(2)working with State weather service headquarters to increase participation in the Program and to add stations in States and regions described in paragraph (1)(B);

(3)where feasible, ensuring that data streams from stations that have been contributing data to the Program for more than 50 years are maintained and continually staffed by volunteers;

(4)prioritizing the recruitment of new volunteers for the Program;

(5)ensuring that opportunities exist for automated reporting to lessen the burden on volunteers to collect and report data by hand; and

(6)ensuring that integrated reporting is available for qualitative observations that cannot be automated, such as drought conditions, snow observations, and hazardous weather events, to ensure that volunteers in the Program can report and upload observations quickly and easily.

(b)Coordination with States and regions

Not less frequently than every 180 days, the National Weather Service shall coordinate with State and regional offices with respect to the status of Cooperative Observer Program stations.

(c)Coordination with Federal agencies

The National Weather Service shall coordinate with other Federal agencies, including the Forest Service, the Department of Agriculture, and the United States Geological Survey, to leverage opportunities to grow the Cooperative Observer Program network and to more effectively use existing infrastructure, weather stations, and staff of the Program.

Editorial Notes

Codification This section was enacted as part of the National Integrated Drought Information System Reauthorization Act of 2018, and not as part of the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 which comprises this chapter.

§8550 Improvements to Cooperative Observer Program of National Weather Service

Summary

Title 15, §8550

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Citations & Metadata