Improving Flood and Agricultural Forecasts Act of 2025

Key Points

• Congress directs NOAA to keep and expand a national network that gathers more local weather and soil moisture data for better forecasts.
• The program would pull in data from state, tribal, private, and university monitoring stations, not just federal sources, to improve warnings and “hyper-local” forecasts.
• NOAA would focus on helping forecasts for floods, drought, fires, and road conditions, aiming to support longer lead times for severe weather warnings.
• At least 15% of program funding each year could be given as grants to help groups build or upgrade monitoring stations, including in remote areas with data gaps.
• Congress would get yearly briefings through 2035 on progress, gaps in coverage, and whether new needs (like coastal/ocean monitoring) should be added.