Hoosier State Today

U.S. Senator Todd Young from Indiana has collaborated with Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi and a bipartisan group of senators to reintroduce the Tornado Observation Research Notification and Deployment to Operations (TORNADO) Act. This legislation aims to enhance the forecasting of tornadoes and other hazardous weather conditions. The TORNADO Act also seeks to motivate the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to update its methods for predicting and communicating weather alerts.

Senator Young emphasized the importance of this bill, stating, “While we can’t prevent storms from occurring, the TORNADO Act will improve severe weather forecasting, notifying the public faster and allowing Hoosiers to find safety more quickly.” He added that the bill is designed to better protect communities in Indiana and across the nation during severe weather events.

The TORNADO Act mandates NOAA to adopt new technology and procedures for issuing severe weather alerts. These updates are expected to increase warning lead times for the public before storms occur.

The legislation is co-sponsored by Senators Gary Peters from Michigan, Cindy Hyde-Smith from Mississippi, Chuck Grassley from Iowa, Jerry Moran from Kansas, Tim Sheehy from Montana, Ted Cruz from Texas, and Raphael Warnock from Georgia.

Further details on the legislative text are available online.