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Weather Service Internet systems are crumbling as key platforms are taxed and failing
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Capital Weather Gang
Weather Service Internet systems are crumbling as key platforms are taxed and failing
Most of the agency’s online systems went down Tuesday, and during last week’s tornado outbreak in the South, a vital resource for relaying information crashed
By Matthew Cappucci and Jason Samenow
March 30, 2021 at 12:27 p.m. EDT
The National Weather Service experienced a major, systemwide Internet failure Tuesday morning, making its forecasts and warnings inaccessible to the public and limiting the data available to its meteorologists.
The outage highlights systemic, long-standing issues with its information technology infrastructure, which the agency has struggled to address as demands for its services have only increased.
In addition to Tuesday morning’s outage, the Weather Service has encountered numerous, repeated problems with its Internet services in recent months, including:
Problems with the stability and reliability of the Weather Service’s information dissemination infrastructure date back to at least 2013, when Capital Weather Gang began reporting on the issue.
{snip}
Matthew Cappucci
Matthew Cappucci is a meteorologist for Capital Weather Gang. He earned a B.A. in atmospheric sciences from Harvard University in 2019, and has contributed to The Washington Post since he was 18. He is an avid storm chaser and adventurer, and covers all types of weather, climate science, and astronomy. Follow https://twitter.com/MatthewCappucci
Jason Samenow
Jason Samenow is The Washington Post’s weather editor and Capital Weather Gang's chief meteorologist. He earned a master's degree in atmospheric science and spent 10 years as a climate change science analyst for the U.S. government. He holds the Digital Seal of Approval from the National Weather Association. Follow https://twitter.com/capitalweather
Weather Service Internet systems are crumbling as key platforms are taxed and failing
Most of the agency’s online systems went down Tuesday, and during last week’s tornado outbreak in the South, a vital resource for relaying information crashed
By Matthew Cappucci and Jason Samenow
March 30, 2021 at 12:27 p.m. EDT
The National Weather Service experienced a major, systemwide Internet failure Tuesday morning, making its forecasts and warnings inaccessible to the public and limiting the data available to its meteorologists.
The outage highlights systemic, long-standing issues with its information technology infrastructure, which the agency has struggled to address as demands for its services have only increased.
In addition to Tuesday morning’s outage, the Weather Service has encountered numerous, repeated problems with its Internet services in recent months, including:
• a bandwidth shortage that forced it to propose and implement limits to the amount of data its customers can download;
• the launch of a radar website that functioned inadequately and enraged users;
• a flood at its data center in Silver Spring, Md., that has stripped access to key ocean buoy observations; and
• multiple outages to NWS Chat, its program for conveying critical information to broadcasters and emergency managers, relied upon during severe weather events.
Problems with the stability and reliability of the Weather Service’s information dissemination infrastructure date back to at least 2013, when Capital Weather Gang began reporting on the issue.
{snip}
Matthew Cappucci
Matthew Cappucci is a meteorologist for Capital Weather Gang. He earned a B.A. in atmospheric sciences from Harvard University in 2019, and has contributed to The Washington Post since he was 18. He is an avid storm chaser and adventurer, and covers all types of weather, climate science, and astronomy. Follow https://twitter.com/MatthewCappucci
Jason Samenow
Jason Samenow is The Washington Post’s weather editor and Capital Weather Gang's chief meteorologist. He earned a master's degree in atmospheric science and spent 10 years as a climate change science analyst for the U.S. government. He holds the Digital Seal of Approval from the National Weather Association. Follow https://twitter.com/capitalweather
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