ASHEBORO, N.C. (ACME NEWS) — The KRAX Weather Radar operated by the National Weather Service in Raleigh will go offline Monday for approximately two weeks to undergo critical maintenance on its pedestal—the component responsible for antenna rotation and positioning.
The radar, part of the nationwide NEXRAD network of 159 operational weather stations, has exceeded its 25-year design lifespan. Technicians will use a crane to remove the radome and refurbish and replace the pedestal.
The National Weather Service said the downtime will not impair forecasting or severe weather alerts for North Carolina. Adjacent Doppler weather radars in the network, including stations in Blacksburg and Wakefield, Virginia; Newport/Morehead City and Wilmington, North Carolina; and Columbia and Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina, will provide full coverage of the state during the outage.
The Federal Aviation Administration Terminal Doppler Weather Radar in Raleigh will also remain operational.
Most consumer weather applications display a composite image of the entire NEXRAD network, meaning users may not notice the outage. Those whose weather apps show no radar can adjust settings to display one of the nearby radar locations.
Nick Petro, warning coordination meteorologist with the NWS Raleigh office, said forecasters will supplement adjacent radar data with surface observations, satellite imagery and lightning detection networks to monitor potentially hazardous weather.
The maintenance is the third phase of the WSR-88D Service Life Extension Program, a $135 million investment by the National Weather Service, U.S. Air Force and Federal Aviation Administration designed to keep the nation’s radars operational into the 2030s.
A signal processor was installed in 2017 and the transmitter was refurbished previously. Equipment shelter refurbishment is planned later this year.
Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis KSC-08pd3221
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