Radar goes down at Paducah NWS; will be out for six weeks

The National Weather Service at Paducah, Kentucky, reported Wednesday its Doppler radar system will be out of service until approximately mid-May.

Rachel Trevino, meteorologist with NWS at Paducah, said service will not be affected.

"When these systems were set up, they had the forethought to have radars that will overlap," Trevino said, adding systems this size need backup for the inevitable times they'll go down.

Trevino said Doppler systems in St. Louis and in Memphis, Tennessee, will cover the Paducah service area.

"We run this gear 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, and kick it into high gear when there's severe weather," Trevino said. "I find it pretty impressive it's lasted this long."

The bull gear, the primary gear that turns the radar, failed, according to an NWS release.

That piece of equipment is about 23 years old, Trevino said.

A six-person team from the Radar Operations Center in Norman, Oklahoma, will repair 12,000 to 15,000 pounds of equipment, according to the NWS.

Repairs are anticipated to be complete no later than May 11.

mniederkorn @semissourian.com

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