US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer calls for more funding for NOAA and National Weather Service

After a record month of tornadoes and extreme weather in New York State, the Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer calls for increased funding for weather monitoring systems.

Schumer is pushing for a $100 million increase for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s large weather satellite program, which operates the country’s satellites that collect data provided by the National Weather Service and more. He is also requesting $30 million in federal funding – a $10 million increase over last year – for the National Mesonet Program.

New York’s Mesonet network provides weather services and emergency managers across the state with real-time data, updated every five minutes. This data is combined with data from other above-ground networks, weather radars, and satellites to provide real-time weather information and improve numerical weather prediction models that are even more accurate and precise than ever before. This gives emergency managers and weather service managers much more confidence in their warning products and in the protective actions that follow. Of the state’s 127 stations, 17 have an advanced laser technology called LiDAR, and continued federal investment will help expand this technology even further.

Schumer said recent weather shows these investments are necessary to keep communities safe and prepared.

He criticized proposals to disband and cut the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Weather Service (NWS), saying this would not only risk defunding weather programs that people rely on, but would also result in important weather data being stuck behind a paywall.