; and (2) as a joint collaboration between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Weather Service, the National Mesonet Program is a critical component of agency operations and provides reliable, real-time prediction and observation capabilities for the physical environment that enhances response and prevention strategies to severe weather events. (b) Program The National Weather Service shall carry out the National Mesonet Program under law to improve understanding of and forecast capabilities for atmospheric events, placing priority on leveraging available commercial and other non-Federal weather data to enhance coordination across the private, public, and academic sectors of the American weather enterprise. (c) Program elements The program described in subsection (b) shall focus on the following activities: (1) Improving the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Weather Service’s ability to provide the baseline forecasts and warnings that protect the Nation’s citizens, businesses, military, and government agencies and enable them to operate and perform in safe, efficient, and orderly manners. (2) Yielding significant amounts of boundary-layer data to result in dramatic improvements in numerical weather prediction performance. (3) Providing the critical technical and administrative infrastructure needed to facilitate rapid integration of new and emerging surface, boundary layer, and space-based networks anticipated in coming years. (4) Leveraging existing networks of environmental monitoring stations to dramatically increase the quantity and density of weather observations available to the National Weather Service at a highly cost-effective price. (5) Supporting the National Weather Service in reaching its target of a 30-minute warning time for severe weather through better predictive algorithms driven by increasingly effective observations. (d) Authorization of appropriations Of amounts otherwise made available to the National Weather Service, there are