NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, says the Doppler Radar at the National Weather Service Office in Rapid City suffered “catastrophic failure” Wednesday afternoon and is out of service.
NOAA says a metal “slip ring” seized up when the radar was rotating around 1:00 PM and caused several cables to break, including the ones that transfer the weather data from the radar dish to the processing equipment in the building below.
NOAA says 8 cables were confirmed as broken with the possibility that others will be found as repairs advance.
The tower was covered in ice due to freezing rain at the time, delaying the start of repairs since workers need to climb 100-feet up the tower to work. NOAA expects the radar to be down for up to a week.