NWS weather radio to go offline in early June for maintenance

LINCOLN, Ill. – Weather radios across central Illinois will be off the air for a few days next week.

NOAA and the National Weather Service Lincoln office will perform upgrades to its Advanced Weather Information Processing System.  That will cause the radio stations operated by the office to be offline from Tuesday at 7:00 A.M. to Thursday afternoon.

The National Weather Service is encouraging people to have alternate methods to receive information if severe weather strikes, which includes nearby stations and smartphone apps.

The forecast office in Lincoln will remain open and staffed.

The stations that will go offline include:

• Bloomington: KZZ-65 (162.525 MHz, channel 6)
• Champaign: WXJ-76 (162.550 MHz, channel 7)
• Galesburg: KZZ-66 (162.400 MHz, channel 1)
• Jacksonville: WXM-90 (162.525 MHz, channel 6)
• Newton: KXI-48 (162.450 MHz, channel 3)
• Paris: KXI-47 (162.525 MHz, channel 6)
• Peoria: WXJ-71 (162.475 MHz, channel 4)
• Shelbyville: KXI-46 (162.500 MHz, channel 5)
• Springfield: WXJ-75 (162.400 MHz, channel 1)

During the outage, residents in Woodford County can tune in to Odell’s WXK-24, 162.450 MHz, Channel 3.  Marshall County residents can tune into either the Odell station or Princeton’s WXL-22, 162.425 MHz, Channel 2.  No information was provided for Peoria or Tazewell Counties.