SOUTH GEORGIA - NWS Mobile said all five NEXRAD radar sites were restored for public access Monday afternoon (Oct. 5) around 2:15 p.m.

The outage had affected public access to radar data for days. National Weather Service forecasters could still see the data on their end, but the public, media, and weather apps could not access the same information.

WALB First Alert Meteorologist Daniella Streety said that gap would have been critical if severe weather developed.

“We may not be able to tell exactly where the street is, but we can tell communities when they’re in danger,” Streety said.

What the outage would have meant for severe weather coverage

Streety said the outage would have limited the ability to detect rotation or tornado development at the proper level.

“So in the case, if there was severe weather, we wouldn’t be able to detect any velocity or rotation just because the radar outages would prevent us to do that,” Streety said. “Now we have radars from a distance, but because of the height of the radar beam, we would not be able to detect anything at the proper level to detect any tornado development or anything like that.”

Streety said the National Weather Service would have still issued a tornado warning if needed, but on-air meteorologists would have faced difficulties sharing details with viewers.

“If a tornado issue was issued, the National Weather Service would be able to see that and send the warning out,” Streety said. “But for us as meteorologists on-air, if we do wall-to-wall coverage, we wouldn’t be able to see any rotation on the ground or be able to share any information to help you get into your safe space.”

Radar access restored

With radar access restored, Streety said coverage down to the street and neighborhood level is back.

She said app notifications are sent when warnings become available, and recommended using the First Alert Weather app and other radar apps to track rain.

It’s believed the initial issue was connected to a fiber optic cable outage. It affected areas all the way from Mobile, Ala. to St. Marks, Fla. and north into south Georgia.

How radar works

Radar detects water particles, rotation, and debris on the ground using a laser in the air, Streety said. Radar accuracy decreases with height, and the farther away a radar is located, the higher in the atmosphere its beam reaches, according to the meteorologist.

“You need always radars within certain proximities to be able to identify if you have rain, hail, rotation, strong winds that can be damaging in severe weather events,” Streety said.

Radar is also used to estimate rainfall during flooding events. During severe weather, viewers should watch for polygons marking severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings, Streety explained.

On radar apps, green shading indicates light rain, yellow indicates moderate showers, and red and purple indicate heavy rain and sometimes hail. Without proper radar access, meteorologists cannot fully see where heavy rain is falling or identify radar holes where data is missing.

Why it matters

Radar is critical for tracking hurricanes — rainbands, eye formation, landfall — and tornadoes — rotation, debris signatures, and issuing life-saving warnings. Without it, during this flood/severe threat, detection is delayed.

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