Senators Roger Marshall of Kansas and Brian Schatz of Hawaii introduced a bipartisan bill to improve weather and soil moisture data collection. The goal is to make extreme weather warnings and agriculture forecasts more accurate.

“The mesonet and soil moisture monitoring probes are crucial tools for Kansans. Weather affects everything on the farm, and a deeper understanding of what’s happening above and below the ground provides farmers more certainty when making crop decisions,” said Senator Marshall. “Better weather data collection for Kansas also helps us predict wildfires and tornadoes before they arrive, which has the potential to save lives in cases of extreme weather. I’m proud to introduce this important, bipartisan legislation.”

“For Hawai‘i and other states vulnerable to floods, droughts, and severe weather, better data means better forecasts, better prepared communities, and faster emergency response times,” said Senator Schatz. “This same data also helps farmers and ranchers navigate droughts.”

The Improving Flood and Agricultural Forecasts Act of 2025 strengthens the National Mesonet Program at NOAA and updates important programs like the National Drought Information System and the Soil Moisture Monitoring Network, which help farmers and communities in Kansas and beyond.