A meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Jackson said communication problems Monday were caused by a widespread power outage. Philomon Geertson said the issues began about 3:30 a.m. and weren’t fully resolved until 5 p.m.
“That meant we were we had to work with our partner office up at Wilmington, Ohio, to issue products as we went through the morning and early afternoon hours.”
Geertson said each NWS office has a backup, so they worked with the Wilmington, Ohio office until the problem was resolved. He said while the Jackson office wasn’t able to share their radar data, they never lost it internally.
“We did issue one severe thunderstorm warning and also a number of special weather statements for stronger thunderstorms as that line of activity did come in. There was no interruption to our core services.”
Geertson acknowledged the lack of radar data to the outside world was likely a concern for some people in the flood-ravaged region they serve.
