The U.S. Senate has passed a bill that includes a bipartisan effort from Florida’s Senators to improve hurricane forecasts. More than a year ago, Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Bill Nelson (D-FL) introduced the Hurricane Forecast Improvement Act. Rubio says after Floridians experienced two major hurricanes this year, his bill is truly needed to help the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA better track storms.
“This bill would require NOAA to improve guidance for hurricane track, intensity, and storm surge forecasts,” said Rubio, . It’s modeled after NOAA’s Hurricane Forecast Improvement Project, which has laid the groundwork for coordinating and improving research. This program has a worthy goal of reducing errors and storm tracking and with continued research, it is my hope a reduction in the loss of life, injury, and economic harm will result.”
Those provisions were included in the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act—recently passed by the U-S Senate. It’s now awaiting approval in the House.
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