NOAA's Dial-A-Buoy to hang up after 27 years on the line with boaters
Arrrrrrrrrrrr.
NOAAs Dial-A-Buoy to hang up after 27 years on the line with boaters
The phone service has offered potentially life-saving coastal weather and water information to both mariners and surfers
By Dan Stillman
March 12, 2024 at 12:19 p.m. EDT
A buoy from NOAA's Chesapeake Bay Interpretive Buoy System. (NOAA)
Its the last call for Dial-A-Buoy, a longtime phone service that has provided hundreds of thousands of callers with potentially lifesaving coastal weather and water information.
The toll-free system, launched by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 1997 as a resource for those away from a computer or the internet, will be retired as of Sunday due to the low volume of users and the cost to retain the service, the agency announced earlier this year.
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Dial-A-Buoy outlasted many local weather lines, Sports Phone and even Moviefone but knows its time has come. After dialing 888-701-8992 or 301-713-9620, callers are immediately greeted with a terse goodbye: Please be aware this service will be discontinued after March 16th, 2024.
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Weve always known
how to quit Dial-A-Buoy: Simply hang up. Soon, well learn how it feels when Dial-A-Buoy quits on us.
By Dan Stillman
Dan Stillman is a meteorologist and editor for the Capital Weather Gang. He earned an M.S. in Meteorology from Texas A&M University, and a B.S. in Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences from the University of Michigan. Twitter
https://twitter.com/stillmand