The National Weather Service experienced a nationwide communications disruption on Friday afternoon, leaving online forecasts and live radar feeds unavailable or outdated across the country.
Federal meteorologists posted an urgent advisory across agency web portals, warning that network problems were blocking access to website features and preventing the timely delivery of updated meteorological data.
The outage coincided with a separate federal infrastructure disruption on Friday, when the Federal Aviation Administration ordered a nationwide ground stop for all departing flights due to an air traffic telecommunications breakdown.
Radar Feeds and Online Forecasts Disrupted
The disruption impacted the weather agency’s primary public web platforms, including radar.weather.gov.
Visitors attempting to track weather systems encountered error screens, missing maps, or frozen radar sweeps. The agency acknowledged the scope of the problem in an online bulletin posted during the incident.
“The NWS has been experiencing nation-wide internet and communications issues,” the agency stated. “You may not be able to access products on our webpages, or these products will be old. Technicians are actively working to resolve these issues as soon as possible.”
The agency apologized for the interruption but did not provide an estimated timeline for full website restoration.
Simultaneous FAA Ground Stop Halts Domestic Flights
The weather service’s network difficulties unfolded as federal aviation regulators managed a major communications breakdown of their own.
The Federal Aviation Administration halted domestic flight departures nationwide “due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety.” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed that a communication issue affected Air Route Traffic Control Centers across the United States.
At the White House, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin described the aviation stoppage as a telecommunications outage and emphasized that investigators found no indication of a cyberattack or malicious threat.
Federal authorities have reported no evidence linking the problems affecting the weather service’s public websites with the FAA’s air traffic control network, with both agencies addressing their technical systems independently.
Local Weather Offices Continue Issuing Emergency Alerts
Despite public website disruptions, regional National Weather Service forecast offices maintained operational monitoring and continued issuing watches, warnings, and local forecasts.
Agency officials confirmed that severe weather alerts remained accessible through NOAA Weather Radio and external distribution partners.
Technical staff continued working to restore web services, while forecasters advised the public to rely on local broadcast media and emergency weather radio for real-time storm updates until normal internet operations resume.
