U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer calls for more funding for NOAA and National Weather Service
After a record setting month of tornadoes and extreme weather in New York State, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is calling for increased funding to weather monitoring systems.
Schumer is pushing for an increase of $100 million for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s large weather satellites program which operates the nation’s satellites that collect data used by the National Weather Service and more. He’s also calling for $30 million in federal funding – a $10 million increase from last year –for the National Mesonet Program.
New York’s Mesonet network provides real-time data to operational forecasters and emergency managers from across the state with updates every five minutes. These data are combined with data from other surface networks, weather radar, and satellite to provide real-time weather information and to improve numerical weather prediction models for even greater accuracy and precision than ever before, giving emergency managers and forecasters much greater confidence in their warning products and in subsequent protective action. Of the state’s 127 stations, 17 include advanced laser technology known as LiDAR, and sustained federal investment will help expand this even further.
Schumer said recent weather shows that these investments are needed to help keep communities safe and prepared.
He criticized proposals that would dismantle and cut the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Weather Service (NWS), which he said would not only risk defunding the weather programs people rely on, but would also result in critical weather data getting stuck behind a paywall.
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