Extreme weather events, such as high winds, tornadoes, and heavy rainfall, impact communities across the United States each year. These extreme events can result in property damage, injuries, and lives lost. Multiple federal agencies have an interest in weather forecasting and warning. For example, Congress has directed the Secretary of Commerce to observe, forecast, and warn the public of weather and floods (15 U.S.C. §313), among other responsibilities. To do so, the Secretary has delegated responsibility for establishing and maintaining a series of weather radars across the country for observation and forecasting purposes to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NOAA works with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the U.S. Air Force—collectively known as the tri-agencies. The tri-agencies operate 158 pulsed Doppler weather radars around the world, known as the Next Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD) system. The radars scan the sky to assess atmospheric conditions at different heights above the ground. Forecasters use radar data to identify the different types (e.g., rain, hail, snow, ice, sleet) and intensity of precipitation, and to detect airborne tornado debris or conditions for possible tornado development. Forecasters analyze information from across the system to forecast and issue severe weather watches and warnings. Members of Congress and other stakeholders have expressed a variety of concerns with NEXRAD. Concerns have generally centered on gaps in radar coverage, interference with radar, and the end of NEXRAD’s design life in the early 2030s. Groups such as NOAA’s Science Advisory Board and Environmental Information Services Working Group have recommended several immediate and future actions NOAA could take to address these issues. In 2019, NOAA found no “significant areas of warning service deficiency due to reduced radar coverage” and recommended an “all of the above” approach to improving hazardous weather detection. NOAA has responded to some stakeholder concerns and recommendations with various activities over time, such as the purchase of commercial radar data, changes in radar operations (in some cases), and the use of non-NOAA radar data. NOAA’s Radar Next Program also continues to assess various radar technologies, including phased array radar, to determine the future weather radar system. Congress continues to examine the strengths and weaknesses of NEXRAD, including stakeholder-identified issues of radar coverage and signal interference, as well as the configurations and costs of potential future radar systems as NEXRAD reaches the end of its design life. Congress might also consider how implemented and proposed changes to NOAA staffing could affect the federal weather radar system.
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