This morning I was trying to see what this storm off the Ca., Or., and Wa. coast was going to do. The automated NOAA weather stated" an APPROXIMATE (caps mine) low of 988 millibars .....the exact track is unknown as ALL bouys off the Washington and Oregon coasts ARE INOPERATIVE." I listened through the NOAA report twice (162.425 Mh) and sure enough the computeried voice said inoperative

ANy other bouy problems in other areas? ? ?

Robert

-- Same as B4 (NWPhotog@Foxcomm.net), January 16, 2000

Answers

Robert,

You can check each bouy on this website, http://seaboard.ndbc.noaa.gov/index.html. Go to Station information and Real Time Data.

I just (1500 ZULU, 7:OO AM PST) checked several and they seem to be working fine (except for the "potential explosion hazard" due to hydrogen from the batteries building up inside). There are 15 foot waves off of the S. OR coast so it's probably not going to be a good day for boating ;-)

-- Evelyn (equus@barn.now), January 16, 2000.

"Weather buoys in NW shut down; ensuing panic in Pittsfield MA closes banks and supermarkets."

-- abc (a@b.c), January 16, 2000.

evelyn,

thanks for the input - why would they say inoperative, though??

No not a nice day for boating, if I was a boater

Thanks again - Robert

-- Same as B4 (Seeabove@top.com), January 16, 2000.

Buoys will be buoys

-- (ohno@mr.bill), January 16, 2000.

robert,

The only reason I can think of is a temporary glitch in the reports to NOAA. Either that or the computerized reporters are being lazy. Problems with the bouy systems are frequent because of underfunding and vandalization.

-- Evelyn (equus@barn.now), January 17, 2000.