[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3966 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3966

  To accelerate subseasonal to seasonal prediction skills related to 
  precipitation forecasts for water management in the western United 
States, improve atmospheric river forecasts across the country, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 9, 2023

     Mr. Mike Garcia of California (for himself and Mr. Obernolte) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                     Science, Space, and Technology

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To accelerate subseasonal to seasonal prediction skills related to 
  precipitation forecasts for water management in the western United 
States, improve atmospheric river forecasts across the country, and for 
                            other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Improving Atmospheric River 
Forecasts Act''.

SEC. 2. SUBSEASONAL TO SEASONAL FORECASTING PILOT PROJECTS.

    (a) Improving Subseasonal and Seasonal Forecasts.--Subsection (h) 
of section 1762 of the Food Security Act of 1985 (15 U.S.C. 8521) is 
amended to read as follows:
    ``(h) Subseasonal to Seasonal Forecasting Pilot Projects.--
            ``(1) Establishment.--The Under Secretary shall establish 
        at least one pilot project within the U.S. Weather Research 
        Program of the Oceanic and Atmospheric Research office of the 
        National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to support 
        improved subseasonal to seasonal precipitation forecasts for 
        water management in the western United States.
            ``(2) Objectives.--In carrying out this subsection, the 
        Under Secretary shall ensure that a pilot project under 
        paragraph (1) addresses key science challenges to improving 
        forecasts and developing related products described in 
        subsection (c) for water management in the western United 
        States, including the following:
                    ``(A) Improving model resolution, both horizontal 
                and vertical, to resolve issues associated with 
                mountainous terrain, such as intensity of precipitation 
                and relative fraction of rain versus snow 
                precipitation.
                    ``(B) Improving fidelity in modeling of--
                            ``(i) the atmospheric boundary layer in 
                        mountainous regions; and
                            ``(ii) atmospheric rivers.
                    ``(C) Resolving challenges in predicting winter 
                atmospheric circulation and storm tracks, including 
                periods of blocked versus unblocked flow over the 
                eastern North Pacific Ocean and western United States.
                    ``(D) Advancing scientific understanding of the 
                roles of atmospheric rivers in subseasonal to seasonal 
                precipitation, and developing tools to predict periods 
                of active or inactive atmospheric river landfalls and 
                inland penetration over the western United States.
            ``(3) Activities.--A pilot project under this subsection 
        shall include activities that carry out the following:
                    ``(A) Best implement recommendations of the 
                National Weather Service's 2019 Report, entitled 
                `Subseasonal and Seasonal Forecasting Innovation: Plans 
                for the Twenty-First Century'.
                    ``(B) Achieve measurable objectives for operational 
                forecast improvement.
                    ``(C) Engage with, and leverage the resources of, 
                institutions of higher education (as such term is 
                defined in section 101 of the Higher Education Act of 
                1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001)) with experience in western 
                precipitation science, as well as entities within the 
                National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 
                existence as of the date of the enactment of this 
                subsection, including the Western Regional Climate 
                Center and the National Centers for Environmental 
                Information.
                    ``(D) Are carried out in coordination with the 
                Assistant Administrator for the Office of Oceanic and 
                Atmospheric Research and the Director of the National 
                Weather Service.
            ``(4) Authorization of appropriations.--From amounts made 
        available to Operations, Research, and Facilities at the 
        National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, there is 
        authorized to be appropriated $15,000,000 for each of fiscal 
        years 2024 through 2028 to carry out this subsection.
            ``(5) Sunset.--The authority under this subsection shall 
        terminate on the date that is five years after the date of the 
        enactment of this subsection.''

SEC. 3. ATMOSPHERIC RIVERS FORECAST IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--The Under Secretary, in collaboration with the 
United States weather industry and academic partners, shall establish 
an atmospheric river forecast improvement program (in this section 
referred to as the ``program'').
    (b) Goal.--The goal of the program shall be to reduce through the 
development and extension of accurate, effective, and actionable 
forecasts and warnings the loss of life and economic losses from 
atmospheric rivers, including by--
            (1) establishing quantitative atmospheric river forecast 
        skill metrics; and
            (2) developing methods to categorize the intensity of 
        atmospheric rivers.
    (c) Innovative Observations and Modeling.--The Under Secretary 
shall ensure the program periodically examines, tests, and evaluates 
the value of incorporating innovative observations, such as 
observations from crewed or uncrewed aircraft, novel airborne and 
satellite-based snowpack measurements, ocean buoys data, soil moisture 
monitoring systems, reservoir storage data, observations from mesonets, 
or other emerging technologies, with respect to the improvement of 
atmospheric river forecasts, predictions, and warnings.
    (d) Program Plan.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Assistant Administrator for Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Research, in coordination with the Director of the National 
Weather Service, shall develop a plan that details the specific 
research, development, data acquisition, and technology transfer 
activities, as well as corresponding resources and timelines, necessary 
to achieve the goals of the program under subsection (b).
    (e) Annual Budget for Plan Submittal.--After the development of the 
plan pursuant to subsection (d), the Under Secretary, acting through 
the Assistant Administrator for Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, and 
in coordination with the Director of the National Weather Service, 
shall, not less frequently than annually, submit to Congress a proposed 
budget corresponding with the activities identified in such plan.
    (f) Definitions.--In this section, the terms ``Under Secretary'' 
and ``weather industry'' have the meanings given such terms in section 
2 of the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 
U.S.C. 8501).
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