Radar Out of Service

In case you have not noticed, the NWS Doppler radar located adjacent to the Shelby County Airport went offline this morning. The radar is expected to remain offline through Thursday.

The reason the radar is down is so work can be done to keep the radar in tip-top condition and in order for the useable life of the radar to be extended about 20 years. The radar began operations in the early 1990s, so it is already over 20 years old. The Doppler radar installations were made at an approximate cost of $4 million, so there is already a tremendous investment in weather safety and one we want to keep going well into the future.

This generation of radar will most likely be replaced down the road by phased array radars, but that technology is currently very, very expensive. So the National Weather Service is paying attention to the needs of keeping the current radar systems healthy.

By the way, we are very fortunate in Central Alabama to have four radars that provide additional coverage to the main area served by Birmingham. Depending on your location in Central Alabama, you can use the radars from Columbus AFB, MS, Mobile, AL, Hytop, AL, or Maxwell AFB, AL, for radar information until the BMX radar is back up and running.

-Brian-

SPECIAL NOTE
We have switched the radar feed here on the AlabamaWX page to come from Columbus MS until the Birmingham radar goes back online.

Tags: radar

Category: Alabama's Weather