BOISE, Idaho — Forecasting the weather in the Treasure Valley will soon return to normal after the Boise weather radar was brought back online following scheduled upgrades.
The United States Weather Service Boise announced on Facebook that the Boise weather radar will have scheduled work starting on Thursday, May 20. The upgrades were completed ahead of schedule, according to National Weather Service officials.
The Weather Service said the Boise weather radar, or KCMX, had its now obsolete WSR-88D radars upgraded, as part of a nationally scheduled upgrade program for weather radars.
Jay Breidenbach, the Warning Coordination Meteorologist for the Boise NWS, told KTVB on Tuesday morning that the radar was brought back online just before 11 a.m. Tuesday.
Officials are still conducting tests on the renovated radar and may temporarily go offline due to lightning strikes in Owyhee County but Breidenbach hopes to have it back to normal operations by Tuesday afternoon.
According to the National Weather Service, the upgrades were part of the Service Life Extension Project. Other upgrades to the radar included a new backup generator, new fuel tanks and additional support equipment. The Boise weather radar's lifespan should now go into the 2030s.