HARLINGEN — Close followers of the weather in the Rio Grande Valley will be flying blind this week when it comes to radar.
The National Weather Service in Brownsville has taken its local KBRO radar offline as of this morning for up to five days as components for the transmitter are upgraded.
“What we are doing is what they call a service life enhancement program — we call it SLEP,” said Paul Schaafsma, electronics system analyst with the NWS in Brownsville.
What SLEP involves includes removing old components within the transmitter and replacing things like fuse-type switches with more modern circuit-breaker type devices, he said. Also, the old cables in the radar transmitter are being pulled out and will be replaced with new cables and connectors.
We see the results of the always-on radar at the NWS facility in Brownsville either online or in our mobile phone apps.
“This should have absolutely no effect on anything you know currently or anything you do currently,” Schaafsma said. “It’s simply a replacement of parts in the transmitter and when the transmitter comes back online it should operate exactly as it did before.”
Until that occurs, Schaafsma recommends selecting the Corpus Christi radar which overlaps with the Brownsville radar footprint to see if any rain or cold fronts are moving through the Valley this week.
Not that it should matter. The forecast is for a relatively calm weather week with highs in the high 70s to low 80s.
“We were very lucky to get the weather we have this week,” Schaafsma added.
Radar upgrade facts
- Upgrades to transmitter components for National Weather Service radar stations are occurring nationwide
- The service life enhancement program, or SLEP, is designed to add years to a radar’s operation
- Many National Weather Service radars haven’t been upgraded in more than 20 years
- Whether online or on a mobile app, select the Corpus Christi radar until Brownsville is back up and running
- Access Corpus Christi’s radar here http://ow.ly/oAY130gRScZ
