U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith speaks to San Marcos Chamber of Commerce President Brian Bondy at a roundtable discussion held July 31.[/caption]

Communities such as San Marcos and Wimberley may have more time to evacuate ahead of major weather events in the future.

U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, co-sponsored a bill that is expected to reach the President’s desk in September and would improve national data collection systems for weather forecasting.

“It may surprise you to learn that the United States is not at the forefront of weather forecasting,” Smith said July 31 at a roundtable hosted by the San Marcos Chamber of Commerce. “It so happens that they have better forecasting methods and data and facilities in Europe than we do here in the United States. … We’ve introduced a bill to modernize our data collection systems, make sure [weather forecasting organizations] coordinate and work with each other and that we get the results more quickly and analyze them better than we have in the past.”

By allowing for the collection of larger volumes of data in a shorter period of time, the improvements would give communities expected to face severe weather at least two more days’ notice, he said.

“That will give us more time to get people to safety,” he said. “It will give us more time to make sure families take whatever action they need to to get out of harm’s way.”

The bill passed the House in May and is being taken up by the Senate without any amendments, Smith said.

San Marcos and Wimberley were affected by major flooding events during Memorial Day weekend in May.

San Marcos Mayor Daniel Guerrero said no San Marcos residents died in the flooding.

“We were fortunate in San Marcos where we did not lose any lives,” Guerrero said. “It was a large volume of property damage, which [Rep. Smith] toured and saw firsthand.”

However, that came at the expense of Wimberley, where the flooding first hit, he said.

If enacted, the bill would open up more data sharing between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees the National Weather Service, and the private weather forecasting industry as well as academic sources.

About $227 million will be appropriated to carry out the act, known as the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2015, in fiscal years 2015-2017, according to the language of the bill.