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The original html file is 550788 bytes.

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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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82. https://www.sfchronicle.com/author/anthony-edwards/
83. https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/storm-map-california-bay-area/
84. https://www.sfchronicle.com/weather/article/scotts-valley-tornado-19981316.php
85. https://www.sfchronicle.com/weather-forecast/article/california-rain-snow-storm-20197785.php
86. https://t.co/JNSHlcuDlA
87. https://twitter.com/NWSBayArea/status/1895941600813203859?ref_src=twsrc^tfw
88. https://www.sfchronicle.com/weather-forecast/article/bay-area-rain-showers-20199909.php
89. https://www.sfchronicle.com/weather/article/doge-weather-service-layoffs-sf-bay-area-nws-noaa-20195288.php
90. https://www.weather.gov/media/tbw/VirtualOffice/Bio/LarryPace.pdf
91. mailto:anthony.edwards@sfchronicle.com
92. https://www.sfchronicle.com/author/anthony-edwards/