“The NWS has been experiencing nation-wide internet and communications issues,” the National Weather Service said, according to Reuters.
Weather Service Systems Hit by Technical Problems
The disruptions arrived as the Federal Aviation Administration dealt with a separate nationwide communications problem that forced a ground stop for departing flights at airports across the United States. Representatives for the weather service said that technicians worked to resolve the technical issues as quickly as possible.
Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi said during an interview with CNN, calling for an emergency briefing with the Federal Aviation Administration after the disruptions unfolded, as Raw Story reported.
In case you heard otherwise, there is no radar outage and https://t.co/sKhgAVX4eI is fully operational! Outdated content from isolated webpages stating otherwise has been circulating, but NWS radars are operating normally.
Krishnamoorthi warned that the country must prepare for anything and pointed to staffing cuts at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency as a vulnerability for critical infrastructure defense. CNN Rene Marsh cited an aviation source saying that air traffic controllers experienced simultaneous radar and radio frequency outages.
Authorities said that no connection between the Microsoft outage, the FAA communications problem, and the weather service disruptions had been officially confirmed.
Outdated Webpages Caused Confusion About Radar Operations
By early evening on November 13, the agency confirmed that its radar networks and primary tracking site were operating normally. Officials pushed back against online rumors of a widespread radar failure, explaining that isolated government webpages were displaying outdated warnings without clear timestamps, according to OFFGRID Survival.
One source of confusion stemmed from an agency webpage maintained in Anchorage, Alaska, which carried a notice about a radar outage without indicating when it was published. Another notice appeared on a webpage from the agency’s Los Angeles office. Local weather service offices continued issuing watches, warnings, and forecasts throughout the day despite the online hiccups, as CT Insider reported.
Around 6:14 p.m. Eastern time, the agency reiterated on social media that radar.weather.gov was fully operational. NWS Central Operations said in an administrative message at 6:01 p.m. Eastern that radar data systems and network communications operated normally without widespread IT outages.
Authorities Found No Indication of a Deliberate Attack
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said that authorities had found no indication of a deliberate attack. He said that the situation should not be compared to the events of September 11, 2001, as Ukrainian National News (UNN) noted. Officials maintained that crews and passengers aboard airborne aircraft remained safe while services worked to fix the malfunctions.
Local weather service offices also reported isolated regional issues affecting weather radios rather than a widespread failure, according to WBTV. No official connection between the weather agency’s network difficulties, the aviation ground stop, and a global Microsoft outage had been confirmed by Friday evening, as WJAR detailed.
What caused the simultaneous outages across the weather service and aviation systems remains unknown.
Earlier coverage: Federal Aviation Administration Halts All Departures Nationwide
