Cut Cable Disrupts Weather Service

Thursday, November 30th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) â€” Cut communications cables near the National Weather Service's headquarters disrupted delivery of forecasts and other data to news organizations and commercial forecasters Wednesday and Thursday.

The agency expected all service to be restored by early Friday.

A contractor digging near the weather service's Silver Spring headquarters accidentally cut a Verizon Communications fiber optic cable and a cable containing copper wires, said Sandra Arnette, a Verizon spokeswoman.

The two main customers affected were the weather service and NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The cables feed the weather service's communications hub, and the cuts affected the agency's telephone service, said public affairs director Curtis Carey. The disruption of communications also affected incoming weather data used by the agency for forecasting.

Delivery of weather information wasn't completely lost because the agency also transmits it via the Internet and satellite, Carey said.

The information transmitted over the lines that were cut, however, is tailored for specific customers, and is more detailed in some cases, he said. The Associated Press was among the organizations affected. The AP's transmission of some weather service material, received from the agency by the Internet, was restored by midday Thursday.

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On the Net:

The National Weather Service: http:// weather.gov