Katrina Shuts Down Weather Broadcasts in GOM

As a result of Hurricane Katrina, all HF radiofacsimile, HF voice and NAVTEX weather broadcasts from United States Coast Guard New Orleans station NMG are inoperable. A USCG C-130 reconnaissance plane has reported the transmitter site as being dry, however, it may be quite some period of time before the commercial long-haul telecommunication lines and power to the site can be restored. The USCG and NOAA are in the process of determining if broadcasts can be performed from another other site in the interim. All products intended for broadcast will continue to be made available via the Internet during this outage.

As a result of Hurricane Katrina, all MF broadcast of weather from Sector New Orleans are inoperable, and VHF broadcasts are being performed at a reduced capacity. A USCG C-130 reconnaissance plane is in the process of investigating the transmitter site. If the transmitter equipment is undamaged, it may still be quite some period of time before the commercial telecommunication lines and power to the site can be restored. All products intended for broadcast will continue to be made available via the Internet during this outage.

As a result of Hurricane Katrina, the Buoy, C-MAN, Ship, and Drifting Buoy Observations via www.ndbc.noaa.gov are unavailable as the National Data Buoy Center had been evacuated and infrastructure damaged. The extent of damage to any facilities and equipment is not fully known at the present time but the greatest problem appears to be restoration of the Internet infrastructure and power. Options for hosting NDBC's webpage at another location are being explored. Buoy and C-MAN data is available at NOAA's Forecast Systems Laboratory and on the webpages of several coastal Weather Forecast Offices as an alternative.