At Sofar Ocean, we deliver the most accurate marine weather powered by the world’s largest network of real-time ocean sensors, to improve safety and efficiency. As the global leader in marine weather intelligence, we are uniquely positioned to help a wide variety of stakeholders work smarter in the ocean, along coasts, and on land, including the U.S. government.
To best support our federal partners, we advocate for ambitious legislation that authorizes programs at agencies like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and empowers them to enhance marine weather forecasting and protect communities in the U.S.
In this blog, we express our support for the Weather Act Reauthorization.
The Weather Act Reauthorization is a pivotal opportunity for U.S. weather science, industry, and national security. First passed in 2017, the Weather Act advanced the U.S.' weather forecasting capabilities, fostered essential public-private partnerships — including collaborations between Sofar and the U.S. government — and enabled groundbreaking technological innovations. This landmark legislation helped government understand, predict, and respond to weather, saving lives, safeguarding the economy, and strengthening our national defense.
Despite these successes, a bipartisan attempt to reauthorize and expand the Weather Act faltered in late 2024. While the House of Representatives passed its version of the Weather Act Reauthorization in April 2024, the Senate failed to act before the conclusion of the 118th Congress. As the 119th Congress convenes in early 2025, the urgency to pass the legislation cannot be overstated. Americans are already experiencing extreme weather events, from a polar vortex to wildfires in Los Angeles exacerbated by 100 mph winds. Other phenomena like atmospheric rivers, extreme heat waves, and hurricanes are becoming increasingly severe and unpredictable, making it clear that the time to act is now.
The Weather Act Reauthorization of 2023 builds upon the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017, or Weather Act, which passed with bipartisan support to modernize the nation’s approach to weather science and disaster preparedness. The 2017 Weather Act provided critical support for NOAA and other agencies to develop advanced prediction tools, improve forecasting models, and expand data-sharing networks. It advanced hurricane forecasting, enhanced extreme weather warning systems, and facilitated stronger collaboration between government agencies, private companies, and academic researchers. Authorizations for several of the programs in the 2017 Weather Act could expire soon if they are not addressed by legislation.
Reauthorizing the Weather Act would preserve critical weather programs currently operating at NOAA, and establish new programs to further improve forecast accuracy, expand commercial partnerships, strengthen emergency preparedness, and bolster prediction tools for agriculture and the blue economy.
Former House Science, Space, and Technology Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-OK) and Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) introduced the Weather Act Reauthorization in October 2023, and ultimately ushered it through the House with the overwhelming support of nearly 400 Representatives in April 2024. Now, the 119th Congress, under the guidance of House Science Committee Chair Brian Babin (R-TX) and Senate Commerce Committee Chair Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), must again introduce the Weather Act and pass it through both chambers before it can be signed into law by the President.
Accurate forecasts save lives, especially during increasingly extreme weather events like hurricanes and wildfires. Advances supported by the 2017 Weather Act have dramatically improved the accuracy of extreme weather forecasts. This has enabled earlier warnings and more effective responses, such as the pre-positioning of emergency personnel and resources. Between 2007 and 2020, improved hurricane forecasts saved, on average, $5 billion per storm.
Despite these savings, there are still major opportunities for improvement. For example, according to a January 2025 report from the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Office of Inspector General found that, "NOAA's Hurricane Forecast Improvement Program is insufficient to meet the [2017] Weather Act's hurricane forecast and warning goal.” Reauthorizing the Weather Act would allow Congress and NOAA to review how the program operates and better meet its forecast and warning targets.
The Weather Act Reauthorization would expand resources for early warnings to help bolster public safety. In particular, Congress has the opportunity to meaningfully enhance forecasting of atmospheric rivers, coastal flooding, and storm surges, and improve public communication around potential hazards.
Critically, the Weather Act Reauthorization would also facilitate partnerships between government and the private sector, enabling NOAA and other agencies to access innovative new technologies, incorporate commercial data sources, and reduce costs. Sofar's partnership with the NOAA-funded National Mesonet Program, for example, has enabled the National Hurricane Center (NHC) to operationalize data collected by Sofar's global network of real-time ocean sensors, known as Spotter buoys. The wave, wind, sea surface temperature, and barometric pressure data collected by these Spotters has helped NHC validate models and improve critical early warning systems. This includes data collected by Spotters airdropped in the path of hurricanes via the National Oceanographic Partnership Program.
The version of the Weather Act Reauthorization that passed the House in the 118th Congress prioritized improving predictions of storm surge and other marine weather events. Passing similar provisions in the 119th Congress would create important pathways for expanding and operationalizing this innovative research.
Weather forecasting underpins key industries, such as agriculture, water management, and maritime shipping. The 2017 Weather Act recognized that accurate predictions enable industry to take proactive steps to prepare for extreme weather; farmers, for example, can use forecasts and data to protect their crops if a drought is predicted in their region.
Congress must build on the foundation of the 2017 Weather Act and unlock additional investments for improving forecasts for industry. Specifically, the Weather Act Reauthorization must improve the temporal and spatial resolution of observations — that is, obtain more localized and timely data — and provide more accurate predictions of precipitation, soil moisture, and other parameters. These localized observations, which are often made by distributed sensing networks like Sofar’s, give seafarers, farmers, water managers, and other industry professionals a more sophisticated understanding of their operational environments.
This higher resolution data also improves forecasts critical to national security. Better predictions enhance safety at sea for vessels essential to the supply chain and enable earlier warnings to protect critical infrastructure, such as power grids and military installations.
.jpeg)
NOAA has historically provided a significant return on investment; as we look towards an uncertain climate future, funding the agency is a very safe bet.
Improvements in hurricane forecasting since 2009 have saved $7 billion, a 20-to-1 return on NOAA’s hurricane forecasting budget during that period. The 2017 Weather Act asked even more of the agency, but its budget did not keep pace with the escalating economic damage wrought by more frequent and extreme weather events. On average, there are twenty $1 billion dollar disasters per year in the U.S., up from seven per year in the early 2000s. That represents a nearly $60 billion increase in disaster-related costs in the past decade.
Weather Act Reauthorization would sustain and enhance investments in NOAA and other agencies and support the research, systems, and partnerships necessary to mitigate disaster-related costs. In the face of an increasingly dynamic climate, this would help make a more resilient future possible in the U.S.
The technological innovations, weather forecasting advances, and expansion of public-private partnerships made possible by the 2017 Weather Act are more than just success stories — they are proof that an investment in science is an investment in public safety, domestic industry, and national security.
Now, the new Congressional leadership and Presidential administration have the opportunity to build on past success and advance American leadership further in the global weather enterprise. The time to act on Weather Act Reauthorization is now — for our communities, our industry, and our planet.
