On 30 July, AGU and its coalition partners in Friends of NOAA sent a letter to Senator Ed Markey’s office (D-MA) endorsing the Forecasting Optimization for Robust Earth Climate Analysis and Subseasonal to Seasonal (FORECASTS) Tracking Act of 2024.

This legislation continues to progress the work done by Congress in the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 by providing funding for essential activities at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which protect the public health, the national economy, and our national security. Accelerating emerging modeling technologies and directly addressing workforce needs are two of many important steps that can be taken to ensure the NOAA of the future is properly equipped to address our evolving climate and increases in severe and extreme weather events that have cost the United States over $2.755 trillion in the last 40 years.1

We hope that bipartisan and bi-cameral efforts will continue to address this critical issue and stand ready to serve as a resource.