U.S. Senator Young, colleagues reintroduce bill to improve the forecasting of tornadoes and other hazardous weather

U.S. Senator Todd Young (R-Ind.) joined with Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and a bipartisan group of senators in reintroducing the Tornado Observation Research Notification and Deployment to Operations (TORNADO) Act, which would improve the forecasting of tornadoes and other hazardous weather. The TORNADO Act would also encourage the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to update its methods for predicting and communicating weather alerts to residents.

“While we can’t prevent storms from occurring, the TORNADO Act will improve severe weather forecasting, notifying the public faster and allowing Hoosiers to find safety more quickly,” said Senator Young. "This bill will better protect communities in Indiana and across the nation when severe weather comes."

The TORNADO Act would require NOAA to implement new technology and procedures for severe weather alerts. The updates could help increase the warning lead times provided to the public before storms strike.

Among other provisions, the TORNADO Act would:

Require NOAA to prepare and submit an action plan for the national implementation of high-resolution probabilistic guidance for tornado forecasting and prediction.

Encourage NOAA to evaluate the current tornado rating system and make updates.

Require NOAA to coordinate with appropriate entities when conducting post-storm assessments to optimize data collection, sharing, and integration.

In addition to Senators Young and Wicker, Senators Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) co-sponsored the legislation.

The legislative text can be found here.