U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer speaks at the Buffalo airport this week.
After a record-setting month of tornadoes and extreme weather ravaged Upstate NY, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer doubled down on his push to increase federal funding for the nation’s weather monitoring systems and New York’s advanced regional weather early warning systems known as mesonets which help cover every single county.
Schumer said recent weather shows that we need to be making these investments to help keep communities like Western New York safe and prepared, especially amid new extreme proposals to dismantle and cut the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Weather Service, which would not only risk defunding the weather programs people rely on, but also critical weather data getting stuck behind a paywall.
“Everyone in Buffalo knows the power of Mother Nature whether it be from a lake effect snowstorm or the rare tornado like we saw last week. We’re seeing increasing extreme weather, and that means we need to invest in the most advanced weather tracking technology for Western NY and our national weather observation systems to keep our communities safe and prepared,” Schumer said. “While some in Washington want to cut our weather programs, I am here today to say that we should be increasing funding to upgrade our nation’s weather monitoring services.”
Schumer said that recent severe storms, like the remnants of tropical storm Debby over the weekend that caused devastating flooding across much of upstate and multiple tornadoes that touched down in Erie County and broke New York’s record for the most tornadoes in a year, show how in the midst of global weather changes, storms can often move, meander, and mystify meteorologists and it’s more important than ever to invest in weather systems to keep Upstate safe and prepared for extreme storms.
“We need to give our nation’s weather observation system more support — not less. … New York has one of the strongest mesonet programs in the country with at least one in every county. We need to keep strengthening it because as recent storms show we need the sharpest forecasts possible so we are prepared for whatever punches Mother Nature delivers,” he said.
Specifically, the senator said he is pushing for a critical $30 million in federal funding – a $10 million increase from last year -for the National Mesonet Program. New York’s Mesonet network is comprised of 127 stations, spaced an average of 19 miles apart, with at least one station located in each of New York’s 62 counties. The state Mesonet provides real-time data to operational forecasters and emergency managers from across the state with updates every five minutes. These data are combined with data from other surface networks, weather radar, and satellite to provide real-time weather information and to improve numerical weather prediction models for even greater accuracy and precision than ever before, giving emergency managers and forecasters much greater confidence in their warning products and in subsequent protective action. Of the state’s 127 stations, 17 include advanced laser technology known as LiDAR, and sustained federal investment will help expand this even further. Locally, the Mesonet network sites include: Buffalo, Burt, East Aurora, Brant, and more.
Schumer also said he is pushing for increased funding for NOAA’s large weather satellites program which operates the nation’s satellites that collect data used by the National Weather Service and more, and he is pushing for an over $100 million increase to boost this program in the final appropriations bill. These satellites provide real-time tracking and monitoring of storms and hurricanes, helping to complement the Mesonet. Schumer also shared his support for increasing funding for the new national radar network and NOAA’s Regional Ocean Observing System, which covers the Great Lakes. Schumer is pushing to strategically grow the system based on the highest priority needs of the region to support disaster response, weather forecasting, hurricane prediction, and more, which in conjunction with Mesonet services, will help improve severe weather forecasting in Upstate New York and beyond.
“Over the past two years, western New York has experienced rare, extreme weather, ranging from record breaking lake effect snowstorms to the unprecedented number of tornadoes that occurred this summer,” said Michael Fries, meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service office in Buffalo. “Continued funding for technology and observations is essential to improve the forecasts and warnings serving the people of western New York. I appreciate Senator Schumer’s support to make this happen.”
Experts say that the value of the Mesonet is that it improves the situational awareness of emergency managers and first responders on the ground immediately before, during and after a weather emergency by helping answer key questions like, what just happened, what is happening right now, what is likely about to happen next? Experts say that these are potentially life-and-death questions when flooding rains are falling.
The Mesonet provides critical amounts of new data that answers those questions in real-time in a way that was not possible before it was built – specifically during past storms Irene, Lee and Sandy. Combined with further investments in supercomputing, weather monitoring aircraft, and radar, the Mesonet data is another critical tool in the country’s pocket for addressing worsening storms.
“As we exit this extreme summer weather and get prepared for another winter in Buffalo, we need to be fully prepared. Without federal investment, New York’s weather forecasting ability could become partly cloudy but its needs to be as clear as possible so that we can keep Western NY and the country prepared and safe,” Schumer concluded.