TAME Extreme Weather Act

Full Title:
TAME Extreme Weather and Wildfires Act

Summary#

This Act directs the Under Secretary at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to develop and use artificial intelligence (AI) for weather, water, wildfire, and space weather forecasting. It requires creation and curation of comprehensive training datasets within 4 years, assessment of existing federal reanalysis datasets, and testing of AI-based global, regional, and local weather models. The Act keeps support for traditional observations and numerical modeling, and asks NOAA to study uncertainty quantification, data assimilation, and impact-based decision support. It authorizes public release of AI models, associated data, and documentation when allowed, but allows withholding for national security or other legal limits. The Under Secretary may form public-private-academic partnerships, consider co-investment and shared intellectual property approaches, and provide technical assistance and best practices to forecasters and emergency managers. The Act requires a security report on foreign access risks within 1 year and recurring reports to Congress every 2 years through 2035. It also authorizes funding and allows NOAA to pursue hiring and retention strategies for technical staff.

What it means for you#

  • Agencies must work to build AI weather models and the data needed to train them.
  • NOAA may make operational and experimental AI models and documentation available to the public, except where release is restricted for security, contract, or legal reasons.
  • The Act focuses on improving forecasts and communication about wildfires and other hazards, and on helping emergency managers use model outputs.
  • There will be new partnerships with private and academic groups and periodic reports to Congress about progress and risks.

Expenses#

  • The Act authorizes $311,000,000 for fiscal year 2026.
  • It authorizes $76,000,000 for each fiscal year 2027 through 2030.
  • No publicly available information on estimated total program operating costs beyond these authorized amounts.

Proponents' View#

Supporters say the measure will improve the accuracy and timeliness of forecasts, strengthen analytic capacity for responding to weather and wildfire hazards, accelerate public-private partnerships on high-risk, high-reward research, and expand technical assistance and best practices for operational forecasters and emergency managers.

Opponents' View#

No publicly available information.