U.S. Senator Katie Britt, as a member of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, voted for a fiscal year 2024 appropriation that included additional funding to modernize severe weather detection equipment and forecasting technology to save lives across Alabama. She voted last week to advance the FY 2024 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, which includes significant measures secured by Sen. Britt to accomplish her goal of modernizing the system.
“Across Alabama, families have had to make split-second, life-or-death decisions in the face of tornadoes,” said Sen. Britt. “I know firsthand that funding severe weather detection equipment and putting accurate data in the hands of our meteorologists will allow more people to prepare and get to safety. As a member of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, I am proud to fight for this critical funding, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to ensure that we continue investing in these essential programs.”
At Senator Britt’s request, the legislation would appropriate $3 million for the expansion and upgrade of the South Alabama Mesonet, a network of automated weather stations located in Mobile, Baldwin, Escambia, Conecuh, Covington, Coffee, Geneva, and Houston Counties, in addition to southeastern Mississippi and northwest Florida. The South Alabama Mesonet provides information to meteorologists to ensure accurate forecasts and adequate severe weather warnings to residents. The expansion is expected to lead to better monitoring and forecasts of weather and severe weather conditions, particularly in Southwest Alabama.
The bill would block the Biden Administration’s proposed Fiscal Year 2024 cuts to the VORTEX program and dedicate $12 million to the initiative, which works to reduce the loss of life and economic damage of tornadoes. Through this program, experts at the University of Alabama in Huntsville work to improve tornado forecasts and warnings, and this funding would ensure the program continues to improve tornado forecasts and warnings. The Biden Administration has asked that Congress defund the program.
Earlier this year, Britt raised her concerns with the Biden Administration’s proposed cuts to both the South Alabama Mesonet and the VORTEX program with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo during her testimony before the committee.
Britt is a native of Enterprise. Enterprise drew national headlines sixteen years ago when an EF4 tornado struck the city, with Enterprise High School taking a direct hit – killing nine.
Since the U.S. first began keeping accurate records in the late 1940s, more Alabamians have been killed by tornadoes than people in any other state. Texas, with a much bigger population, is second. In 2022, Alabama recorded 98 tornadoes, the second-highest year on record. Since 1993 the USA has averaged 71 tornado deaths per year – Alabama has averaged 14 – more than any other state. Missouri is second with 8. Sixty-three Americans have already died from tornados this year.
The FY 2024 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act now moves to the full Senate for consideration.
Britt was elected to the Senate in 2022.
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