Central Alabama’s primary National Weather Service radar in the Birmingham area is offline after a hardware failure, leaving forecasters uncertain whether it will be restored before a line of potentially severe storms expected later today and tonight.
The out-of-service system is the WSR-88D radar known by its call sign KBMX, which serves central Alabama. National Weather Service technicians have been working to diagnose and repair the hardware problem, but the agency said it does not know whether the radar will be back online in time to provide its usual local coverage for the incoming storm system.
Despite the outage, the NWS said central Alabama remains covered by multiple surrounding NWS radars and that those installations will continue to provide meteorologists with sufficient data to monitor developing storms and to issue watches and warnings as needed. The agency also noted it is relying on other operational tools, including satellite imagery, surface observations and lightning detection networks, to fill gaps while KBMX is offline.
Radar experts caution, however, that reliance on more distant sites can reduce the level of detail available near the ground. Radar beams rise with distance, which can make it harder to sample low-level storm structure close to the affected area — information that is often critical when issuing short-notice tornado warnings or pinpointing intense downburst-producing cells. The NWS in Birmingham did not say whether those potential limitations had changed its forecast or warning thresholds for the expected storms.
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The Birmingham office said it will continue to closely monitor atmospheric conditions and will issue any necessary watches and warnings throughout the day and evening. In a statement, the NWS urged the public to have multiple ways to receive warnings, specifically naming NOAA Weather Radio and Wireless Emergency Alerts in addition to trusted local media sources, and encouraged residents to review severe weather safety plans ahead of the approaching system.
Local emergency managers and broadcasters were notified of the radar outage, and the NWS asked partners to remain alert for rapid changes in conditions. Technicians remained on-site diagnosing the KBMX hardware issue; the timeline for a repair or hardware replacement was not provided.
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With severe-weather threats often evolving quickly, the NWS reiterated the importance of readiness even as it seeks to restore its primary radar. The agency’s use of overlapping radar coverage and other monitoring tools aims to maintain public safety messaging while technicians work to return KBMX to service.
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