Snow Water Supply Forecasting Reauthorization Act of 2025
The Snow Water Supply Forecasting Reauthorization Act of 2025 reauthorizes the Snow Water Supply Forecasting Program and substantially updates its focus. The bill shifts the program from a emphasis on reporting milestones to a sustained effort to deploy integrated, real-time snowpack measurement and forecasting capabilities. It directs the use of technologies that fully integrate snowpack measurements with hydrologic models, including airborne LiDAR, imaging spectroscopy, and integrated physics-based modeling, to improve accuracy and timeliness of snowpack and water supply forecasts used for management decisions. The act also broadens interagency participation (adding NOAA and the Natural Resources Conservation Service) and prioritizes data-sharing and real-time integration with water forecasts, particularly in river basins with interstate water management needs. In addition, it specifies a new funding schedule, providing $6.5 million per year for fiscal years 2027 through 2031, replacing the prior aggregate funding and signaling a longer-term, higher level of support for advanced forecasting capabilities. In short, the bill aims to modernize and extend the program by embedding integrated measurement and modeling technologies, expanding interagency collaboration, prioritizing real-time data use in water management (including interstate decisions), and updating funding to support these capabilities through 2031.
Key Points
- 1Integrated measurement and modeling emphasis: Replaces a focus on separate “emerging technologies” with deployment of technologies that provide complete integration of snowpack measurements and models (airborne laser altimetry, imaging spectroscopy, integrated physics-based snow/ hydrologic modeling, and other capable technologies).
- 2Expanded interagency participation: Requires inclusion of NOAA and the Natural Resources Conservation Service among relevant federal agencies in the program’s activities.
- 3Real-time data integration and basin focus: Directs the program to prioritize real-time integration of measurement data with water supply forecasts and to focus on basins where data can inform water management decisions, including interstate water management.
- 4Capacity building and partnerships: Emphasizes building partner capacity to implement and adapt to new measurement and forecast capabilities, enabling broader adoption across agencies and stakeholders.
- 5Funding and timeline: Replaces the prior funding structure with a clear authorization of $6.5 million for each fiscal year from 2027 through 2031, signaling sustained investment in advanced forecasting capabilities.