Critical NWS weather radar out of service and impacting forecasts

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Critical weather radar is out of service — which may explain weirdness in forecasts By [82]Anthony Edwards, Newsroom Meteorologist March 3, 2025 Hikers make their way along Mount Umunhum Trail to the summit in September 2017. The hiking area near Los Gatos is also home to critical weather radar, which forecasters at the National Weather Service Bay Area use to track storms. This radar has been offline since Saturday, and is causing forecast accuracy issues. Michael Macor/The Chronicle A Bay Area weather radar system that provides critical data meteorologists use to track incoming storms has been out of service since midday Saturday. Rain splashing across weather apps Saturday night seemed to vanish after the radar, which sits atop Mount Umunhum in the Santa Cruz Mountains, went offline. Weather service meteorologist Dylan Flynn said the office was “handicapped” as rain and thunderstorms continued Sunday and forecasters were unable to examine the structure of individual storm cells. * Live storm map: [83]See where rain is hitting California and Bay Area The National Weather Service operates 160 weather radars across the U.S. and its territories. Radar detects the size and motion of particles in rain, snow, hail and dust, which helps meteorologists track where precipitation is falling. Radar can even indicate the [84]presence of a tornado, such as the one that hit Scotts Valley in December. As of Monday morning, there was no clear estimation of when the radar might be fixed, but meteorologists were hopeful for a return to service Tuesday. [85]Rain is expected to return to the Bay Area early Wednesday, which could pose additional problems if the radar is not operable. “The biggest hindrance to us is not necessarily the forecast, but it’s to warning operations if any of these cells develop thunderstorms,” Flynn said. “If there’s anything that turns severe or starts producing hail or rotation and we need a tornado warning, we really won’t be able to tell that to the same degree we typically do when our radar works.” The KMUX radar is down until further notice (UFN). Technicians have been notified, but time of restoration is unknown. Some coverage is available from neighboring radars at Eureka, Beale AFB, Sacramento, Hanford, and Vandenberg SFB. [86]pic.twitter.com/JNSHlcuDlA — NWS Bay Area (@NWSBayArea) [87]March 1, 2025 An expensive broken part in the radar needed to be specially ordered. It was not clear whether the ongoing freeze in some government spending is causing any delay in ordering or shipping the part. A National Weather Service spokesperson did not immediately respond for a request to comment. Radar outages are not unusual. Minor repairs, such as air conditioning fixes, can quickly be performed by electronics technicians. But major repairs can last days or even weeks. The Monterey weather service office has three electronic technicians who do maintenance on radar, [88]rain gauges and other equipment. All three are probationary employees in their first year of service, but were not a part of the [89]layoffs that took place Thursday. Another weather radar, in San Diego, went offline Saturday morning and remains out of service until further notice. The weather service said it was awaiting new parts. During a radar outage, the weather service typically relies on public precipitation reports through social media and phone calls. But the phone lines at the Monterey weather service office have been down since early Sunday morning, with no estimated time for repair. The facilities technician, who served several weather service offices around the region, was included in Thursday’s layoffs. It was not immediately unclear whether the facilities technician’s responsibilities included fixing phone lines, but a [90]weather service document describes the job duties as “necessary to install or repair structures, cable and equipment.” The Golden Gate Bridge and downtown San Francisco are seen from the Marin Headlands near Sausalito during a brief break from the rain in February. The Golden Gate Bridge and downtown San Francisco are seen from the Marin Headlands near Sausalito during a brief break from the rain in February. Stephen Lam/The Chronicle “Reports from the public are huge at all times, but especially when we’re losing our primary data source for warning operations,” Flynn said. “There are a lot of people who don’t have social media that call us, and we weren’t getting those calls.” Reach Anthony Edwards: [91]anthony.edwards@sfchronicle.com; Threads: @edwardsanthonyb; Bluesky: @edwardsanthonyb.bsky.social March 3, 2025 Photo of Anthony Edwards [92]Anthony Edwards Newsroom Meteorologist Anthony Edwards is a newsroom meteorologist at The San Francisco Chronicle. He joins the Chronicle from the University of Washington where he was previously the president of the campus weather forecasting team and an editor at the student newspaper, The Daily UW. Edwards enjoys exploring San Francisco's parks, playing tennis, hiking, swimming and attending a ballgame when the Mariners visit the Giants and the Athletics.

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