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ExpectMore.govExpectMore.gov home pageEXPECT FEDERAL PROGRAMS TO PERFORM WELL, AND BETTER EVERY YEAR.
Program Assessment

Program

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National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration: Weather and Related Programs

This program provides weather forecasts and warnings to protect lives and property. The program collects weather observations from satellites and creates and disseminates forecasts and warnings.

Rating

What This Rating Means

PERFORMING
Moderately Effective

In general, a program rated Moderately Effective has set ambitious goals and is well-managed. Moderately Effective programs likely need to improve their efficiency or address other problems in the programs' design or management in order to achieve better results.
  • The program has made progress in achieving its long-term goals, particularly in improving accuracy and timeliness of forecasts and warnings. For example, lead times for tornado warnings have increased from 5 minutes in the early 1990s to 13 minutes in 2004.
  • One of the satellite programs has experienced significant cost and schedule overruns which were caused by management and technical problems. This program is at least 25% over budget and the satellite launches are delayed by at least two years.

Improvement Plan

About Improvement Plans

We are taking the following actions to improve the performance of the program:

  • Investing in technology to improve severe weather warning lead times. Technological improvements include major system hardware and software upgrades, as well as telecommunication enhancements.
  • Instituting quarterly reporting on progress of satellite programs.

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