Cantwell Calls Out Admin Decision to Cancel Critical Investment in New Weather Forecasting Technology
Cantwell: “NOAA must continue to improve its weather forecasting capabilities to give Americans the best warnings possible”; America’s Doppler network is from the 1980s and needs to be replaced within the next decade; Phased Array Radar is broadly considered the best option to serve as the backbone of a new system
EDMONDS, WA – This week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced that it will not move forward with its plan to launch a large-scale test of a new advanced weather radar technology, citing cuts to the agency’s budget.
The technology – called Phased Array Radar, or PAR – is far faster than the current Doppler radar that currently makes up the majority of the United States’ weather forecasting system, allowing meteorologists to give communities in harm’s way much more lead time during a dangerous weather event.
U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Committee of Commerce, Science, and Transportation, which oversees NOAA, issued the following statement:
“We need to be doing more to protect the public from increasingly frequent and intense extreme weather events, not less. Now is not the time to cancel investments in Phased Array Radar that can focus on the most dangerous features of a storm and scan the atmosphere six times faster than current radar, providing greater warning lead time for communities in harm’s way. NOAA must continue to improve its weather forecasting capabilities to keep pace with the growing threats of extreme weather and give Americans the best warnings possible.”
The United States’ Doppler radar network is from the 1980s and is falling apart – and while our weather radar system needs to be completely replaced in the 2030s, NOAA’s National Weather Service is still determining the best option for replacing the technology. It will likely be a mix of different radars, but the leading option for the backbone of the system is PAR.
NOAA previously built a small PAR "proof of concept" a few years ago, but the technology needs further testing before the agency deploys it across the country. Until this week, NOAA had planned to award a contract for a full-scale test article this month and was already soliciting proposals from vendors. On Tuesday, the agency announced: “The funding profile for this program has been further reduced and therefore, the current requirement is no longer feasible within the available budget.”
For months, Sen. Cantwell has been sounding the alarm about the real, tangible impacts of budget cuts to NOAA and how stripping the agency of resources actively puts Americans in danger, especially in the face of increasingly extreme weather. Last month, she sent a letter to President Donald Trump outlining her five-point plan to bolster the United States’ weather readiness. Her first recommendation was to modernize the nation’s weather data collection infrastructure like radar to collect and compile more data by land, air, space, and sea.
READ MORE:
CNN: Key senator makes bipartisan plea to Trump to invest in weather and early warning networks
More details about each of Sen. Cantwell’s recommendations to President Trump can be found HERE.
In June, Sen. Cantwell joined renowned meteorologists from across the country for a virtual presser to sound the alarm on cuts at NOAA’s National Weather Service, and called on the Trump Administration to restore the agency to full capacity. In February, Sen. Cantwell voted against confirming Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, citing – among other issues – his “tepid support” for NOAA. She then sent a letter to Lutnick directly following his confirmation calling on him to exempt the NWS from the federal hiring freeze, and protect all NOAA workers from firings "that would jeopardize the safety of the American public."
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