New nation-wide computer glitches at Environment Canada

OTTAWA — Environment Canada had its current weather observations online again early Thursday after an unexplained breakdown, but a further glitch has taken past weather data offline.

Anyone looking for weather data more than 24 hours old now gets this message: "The database is currently unavailable. This may be due to maintenance or we may be experiencing difficulties. We apologize for any inconvenience. Please try again later."

A Citizen survey of more than a dozen prominent weather stations, including Ottawa, Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto, and a number of smaller sites found the same problem at all of them early Thursday.

And a series of other major links on Environment Canada's website — climate data, frequently asked questions and more — all get the message: "Website Error The server encountered an error and was unable to complete your request."

That's on top of a problem, now resolved, that shut down hourly observations from much of the country Wednesday afternoon and evening.

The federal department's weather websites for cities from Regina to Halifax -- including Ottawa and Gatineau -- left viewers with the unexplained message: "Not observed."

Missing were all measurements of temperature, wind, humidity and rainfall after 4 p.m. Wednesday. Normally these are all updated hourly. And for part of the evening, Internet users couldn't connect to the weather websites at all, including the radar websites.

But overnight the federal department got them working again.

Callers to the weather service's recorded telephone service also hit a recorded voice telling them that service was not available.

Forecasts prepared earlier in the day are still online, including some warnings of approaching thunderstorms.

Cities affected included Toronto, Montreal, Halifax, Quebec City, Winnipeg, London and Windsor. Service was still working as of 8 p.m. in Vancouver and Calgary. A survey of many Ontario weather stations by the Citizen didn't find a single one working.

The glitch follows a long period of computer trouble for the federal department. Weather records for an eight-month-period went missing beginning in December, 2011, at many Canadian cities. They have since been restored.

The weather service's website gives no reason for the missing data, which arrives as a heat wave is coming to the national capital.

Original Article
Source: ottawacitizen.com
Author: Tom Spears