The U.S. Senate on Tuesday unanimously passed the bipartisan Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Reauthorization Act of 2026, known as the Weather Act, and sent it to the House for consideration.

The bill would authorize National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) programs aimed at improving weather research and forecasting to save lives and help communities prepare for dangerous weather. Its provisions include:

• An atmospheric river forecast improvement program
• Required improvements to how NOAA communicates hazardous weather threats
• Upgrades to outdated weather radio technology, with an emphasis on rural communities
• A requirement that the U.S. Geological Survey and NOAA incorporate atmospheric river risks into landslide preparedness planning
• A new, official Fire Weather Services Program within NOAA, with funding for research and technology to improve wildfire forecasts
• Direction for the National Integrated Drought Information System to adopt new drought monitoring technologies and use data from state and regional hydrological projects

The bill also addresses NOAA’s aging radar network, allowing the agency to design and deploy new radar technology by 2037 and manage gaps in the current system. It calls for updated tsunami and tornado forecasting and warning systems, builds on the Hurricane Forecast Improvement Program, and seeks better drought monitoring for farmers, ranchers, and others who depend on the data.

The legislation also pushes the National Weather Service and federal partners, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to improve how they support emergency managers and communicate hazards, including through artificial intelligence. It directs the Weather Service to include turbulence and icing in its forecasts and to set up a program to acquire data from commercial aircraft.

Data collection remains central to forecasting, which is why the Weather Service deploys weather balloons. That capability was scaled back during the Department of Government Efficiency cuts in March 2025, and twice-daily launches were ordered to resume last week.

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