Officials are warning that things won’t be exactly the same as before.
GALVESTON, Texas — The National Weather Service announced Wednesday that a temporary NOAA Weather Radio transmitter for Galveston will be back on the air by August 31, more than four months after a fire destroyed the original equipment in March.
The March 25 fire destroyed the Galveston NOAA Weather Radio transmitter and shelter, leaving the area without the critical emergency broadcast service that provides weather alerts and warnings to residents.
NWS officials have decided to relocate the replacement transmitter to a new tower at no cost to the agency. A temporary transmitter and antenna have been approved and ordered to restore service as quickly as possible.
However, the temporary setup will have limitations compared to the original system. The temporary transmitter will not broadcast at the same high power level as the destroyed equipment, and the temporary antenna will be positioned lower on the new tower than the previous installation. That means the geographic coverage area will be smaller than what residents previously received.
Work is already underway on a permanent solution. The weather service has ordered a new permanent transmitter and is continuing the process of installing a new shelter and mounting equipment. The timeline for permanent restoration depends on completing a structural analysis of the new tower, after which mounting parts and cabling will be ordered.
Officials are targeting September 30 as the goal for having the permanent system fully operational, though they caution that a firm installation date cannot be established until the structural analysis is finished.
The new location, situated a few miles from the previous transmitter site, will result in permanent changes to the broadcast coverage pattern that have yet to be determined.
The original broadcast, KHB-40 at 162.55 MHz, has been offline since the March fire. During the extended outage, the National Weather Service has urged residents to rely on multiple sources for weather forecasts and warnings.
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