Anyone who might drive close to the
Springfield Missouri airport may have spotted a tower with a white
egg on top of it. That's the National Weather Service's Doppler radar
which watches for storms all across southwestern Missouri. The
trouble was that the radar went down on the 14th of June
due to a storm that caused one of the 'gear joints' break, in the
aging 25 year old tower. Repairs were expected to take as long as a
week. Thankfully, this coincided with a period that saw few storms in
the region.
In this National radar composite above, you can plainly see the gap in coverage circled in black. The other radar sites can be discerned as gray splotches. Should repairs not finish before a major storm outbreak, the Springfield site will get assistance from other cities to try and help keep everyone from harm. When and until it's functioning again, everyone will need to be especially aware of any popup storms that might come their way!
This was the official notice published by the NWS on June 15:
So, how long will the site be down? I'm betting it will be back up by Wednesday, June 20..But, then again, I'm an incurable optimist! Note: I did reach out, via email, to the NWS but never received a response back.... At any rate, the amount of time it takes this essential government agency to repair that device will be a good indicator of the health of the NWS!
www.taneyweather.com
This was the official notice published by the NWS on June 15:
The WSR-88D Doppler Radar (KSGF) at
Springfield, Missouri has experienced a hardware failure and is not
operational at this time. Parts have been ordered to repair the radar
and National Weather
Service radar technicians will be on
site this week to begin repairs. The radar will be restored to normal
operation as soon as possible.
www.taneyweather.com
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