Rep. Lucas Introduces Bipartisan Bill to Modernize Weather Radar and Improve Tornado Warnings
This bill is currently in the House committee stage and has not seen any official action since September 2025. It is considered stalled because no progress has been made for nine months. The House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology must take the next step for the bill to move forward.
This is a bipartisan bill with many cosponsors from both parties. Weather safety is usually a popular topic that avoids the heavy fighting seen in other parts of politics.
Scores run from -100 (strongly harmful) to +100 (strongly beneficial) for each group, combining impact, certainty, scope, and duration ratings of 1-5. How impact scoring works
Active military personnel benefit indirectly from improved weather forecasting capabilities that support military operations, including better aviation weather and turbulence forecasting. The National Mesonet Program explicitly mentions supporting the military as a beneficiary of improved weather observations.
“Improve environmental observations used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Weather Service to support baseline forecasts, including nowcasts, and warnings that protect the Nation's citizens, businesses, military, and government agencies”
Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by Voice Vote.
The committee approved this bill and is sending it to the full chamber for a vote. This is a significant step — most bills never get this far.
Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held
Referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, and in addition to the Committee on Natural Resources, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Sent to a congressional committee for expert review. The committee decides whether this bill moves forward.
Introduced in House
The bill was officially filed and given a number. It now enters the legislative queue.
The House Science, Space, and Technology Committee passed the Weather Act Reauthorization Act of 2025, a bipartisan package aimed at modernizing NOAA's forecasting for tornadoes and hurricanes while expanding commercial data partnerships.
The Weather Act Reauthorization Act of 2025 includes provisions to eliminate radar gaps in areas like Charlotte, NC, by replacing aging NEXRAD systems and deploying phased array radar to improve low-level storm detection.
New legislation would mandate that NOAA adopt artificial intelligence and high-performance computing to predict complex weather events like droughts and wildfires, while also modernizing the agency's aging radar infrastructure.
No votes recorded for this bill yet.
Document Type
Congressional Bill
Official Title
Weather Act Reauthorization Act of 2025
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