America’s critical infrastructure is facing a troubling double disruption.

The National Weather Service (NWS) has acknowledged a national radar outage affecting its radar website, following an extraordinary decision by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to ground departing flights across the United States because of widespread air traffic control communications problems.

The two developments, occurring in close succession Friday afternoon, have raised serious questions about the reliability of the nation’s essential transportation and weather-monitoring systems.

The NWS posted the following message on an official webpage:

“We are aware of a National Radar Outage on radar.weather.gov. We appreciate your patience as we investigate this matter. Thank you.”

According to Newsforce: “Local offices have posted notices confirming the problems and saying technicians are investigating. Forecast offices continue issuing watches, warnings, and forecasts, which remain available through some external sites and official social media accounts.”

The development comes as America’s aviation system faces its own extraordinary emergency.

On Friday, the FAA issued a rare nationwide ground stop, ordering departing flights to remain on the ground amid serious communications problems involving air traffic control facilities across the country.

The agency cited “extraordinary circumstances” and safety concerns in ordering the unprecedented disruption to normal flight operations.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed that the communications problem was affecting Air Route Traffic Control Centers, the facilities responsible for managing aircraft traveling through large sections of American airspace.

FAA technicians were investigating the failure, but the precise cause had not been publicly established at the time of the initial reports.

Aircraft already airborne were permitted to land, while international arrivals and departures were subject to separate handling.

This is only the second time since the September 11, 2001 attacks that the FAA has ordered a full nationwide ground stop of this magnitude (a 2023 NOTAM system failure was the previous instance).