US weather service denies radar outage amid nationwide flight ground stop

.on Friday denied reports of a nationwide weather radar outage, stating that its systems and the radar.weather.gov website remain fully operational.

In a statement posted on its official X account, the NWS said: “In case you heard otherwise, there is no radar outage and https://radar.weather.gov is fully operational! Outdated content from isolated webpages stating otherwise has been circulating, but NWS radars are operating normally.”

The denial came as rumors of a radar failure spread online and in some media reports.

The claims appeared linked to outdated, unmaintained NWS webpages, including one associated with the Anchorage office, that displayed stale outage notices.

Multiple local NWS offices and independent checks confirmed the Next Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD) network was functioning, with 158 of 159 sites sending live data; the single offline site was in Okinawa, Japan.

The reports circulated amid a rare nationwide ground stop ordered by the Federal Aviation Administration.

The FAA halted all departing flights across the United States due to communications issues affecting Air Route Traffic Control Centers, citing “extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety.”

Aircraft already airborne were allowed to land, while international arrivals were handled case by case.

Officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, said there was no indication of a nefarious act and described the problem as a telecommunications outage.

The action marked only the second such nationwide stop since the September 11, 2001, attacks (following a 2023 incident). Thousands of flights were delayed or canceled.

NWS officials and meteorologists emphasized that the FAA communications problems were separate from weather radar operations.