JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The weather radar here in Jacksonville is down due to maintenance in February 2023, what does that mean as far as forecasting is concerned?
Meteorologist Ben Nelson explained. “We have other doppler radars available to us, there is one at Moody Air Force Base in Valdosta, another one in Tampa, Melbourne, they help us fill in the gaps when this is down. We also do things like put our satellite image in a faster refresh rate. To help us identify things that are going on.
The National Weather Service Radar WSR-88 are worth about 10 million dollars a peach. So they do have regular inspections and updates to them.
“ we had contractors out to clean of the ray dome panels, that’s the white shell behind me. They told us they are worn and needed to be replaced."
That is the white panel you see on the outside of the radar with the heard of the machine inside of the dome.
Good news is this time of year is actually a better time to have the radar down compared to peak storm season in the summer. Meteorologist Ben Nelson noted. “You would rather do it this time of year than in the summer with our daily regular thunderstorms."
The goal is to have it back up and working by February 22nd or soon.