View all text of Subchapter III [§ 8541 - § 8550]
§ 8550. Improvements to Cooperative Observer Program of National Weather Service
(a) In generalThe Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, acting through the National Weather Service, shall improve the Cooperative Observer Program by—
(1) providing support to—
(A) State-coordinated programs relating to the Program; and
(B) States and regions where observations provided through the Program are scarce;
(2) working with State weather service headquarters to increase participation in the Program and to add stations in States and regions described in paragraph (1)(B);
(3) where feasible, ensuring that data streams from stations that have been contributing data to the Program for more than 50 years are maintained and continually staffed by volunteers;
(4) prioritizing the recruitment of new volunteers for the Program;
(5) ensuring that opportunities exist for automated reporting to lessen the burden on volunteers to collect and report data by hand; and
(6) ensuring that integrated reporting is available for qualitative observations that cannot be automated, such as drought conditions, snow observations, and hazardous weather events, to ensure that volunteers in the Program can report and upload observations quickly and easily.
(b) Coordination with States and regions
(c) Coordination with Federal agencies
(Pub. L. 115–423, § 8, Jan. 7, 2019, 132 Stat. 5461.)