Weather radar scheduled for maintenance

By Terry Murry on Tuesday, June 8th, 2021 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories

PENDLETON – The National Weather Service is performing some much-needed maintenance on its radar system soon. Hydrologist Marilyn Lohmann says the system will be down for five to six days beginning Thursday.

“The radar has been operating pretty continuously since around 1995 when it went on line here,” she said.

While the radar is down, Lohmann said they will rely on data from surrounding stations like Spokane, Portland, Seattle, Medford, and Boise. Satellite data will also aid in their forecasting efforts.

“They are going to be replacing the emergency generator that we use and some power equipment to that,” Lohmann said. “They have to totally bring down the power system to do that.”