We get those messages from time to time from the National Weather Service. It usually is a failed part or a little routine maintenance.
When the WSR-88 radar unit that services the National Weather Service in Reno failed around 4:30 a.m. PST during a huge Pacific storm last Friday, December 19th, alarms sounded on the forecasters consoles.
When personnel were dispatched to check out the equipment, which is located on Virginia Peak, they were shocked at what they found.
A wind gust to 140 mph apparently crushed the radar dome on the powerful radar.
Lee waves in the wind pattern downstream from the Sierra Mountains can produce intense winds like this. Winds were sustained at over 50 mph for several hours according to the anemometer record, and occasionally were sustained at near hurricane force.
Here is a report from the NWS Reno.
