THE U.S. WEATHER AND CLIMATE ENTERPRISE
27 June 2026 | ZEROGeoengineering.com | The 2003 National Academies report below, “Fair Weather: Effective Partnerships in Weather and Climate Services,” examines the evolution of the U.S. weather and climate enterprise, a partnership between NOAA, academic institutions, private companies and international organizations such as the United Nations (UN) World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
In addition to conducting weather research experiments, a central component of the U.S. weather and climate enterprise is a system for the collection and exchange of data between “federal, state, local, private, and international organizations.””
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2003. Fair Weather: Effective Partnership in Weather and Climate Services. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/10610.
“Over the last four decades the provision of weather and climate services in the United States has evolved from an almost exclusively governmental function to one carried out by a combination of federal, state, and local government agencies (referred to collectively as the public sector), the private sector, and academia.”
“In addition to holding meetings, the committee visited several weather companies, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration facilities, and academic organizations. These include AccuWeather; NBC; WeatherData; WSI Corp.; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Penn State University; the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research; National Weather Service (NWS) headquarters; National Climatic Data Center; Climate Diagnostics Center; Forecast Systems Laboratory; Climate Diagnostics Laboratory; and NWS forecast offices in Tauton, Massachusetts; State College, Pennsylvania; and Wichita, Kansas.”
“WMO is an intergovernmental agency of the United Nations, and its 185 members are all representatives of the national meteorological and hydrological services in their country…
…As members of WMO, countries agree to work together to set standards and exchange data and products.”
“All three sectors— public, private, and academic—contribute to the weather and climate information system,”
“Weather-related research, including in-house government research and academic research funded by government agencies, constitutes about 17% of the federal budget for weather activities.”
“NOAA operates the national observing system and is responsible for the U.S. contribution to the global observing system. State and local governments, academia, and the private sector supplement the national network with denser arrays of instruments.”
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2003. Fair Weather: Effective Partnership in Weather and Climate Services. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/10610.
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‘‘Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Reauthorization Act of 2026’’
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NOAA’s organizational chart showing the agency’s leadership as of June 18, 2026.
(Image credit: NOAA)
Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Reauthorization Act of 2026
“The Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 established the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) core weather research and forecasting framework, aligning the
National Weather Service, the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, and the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service around a unified mission to improve forecasts, accelerate research-to-operations…”
