PIERRE, S.D.(KCCR)- The National Weather Service tower serving Pierre and a good part of central South Dakota is in need of replacement and that means the NOAA weather radio channel serving the area needs to be taken out of service.

The tower is located in a cluster of towers on Snake Butte six miles north of Pierre.  Warning Coordination Meteorologist Kelly Serr at the National Weather Service in Aberdeen says the Weather Service leases space on the tower for its radio equipment.  The outage is coming right in the heart of the severe weather season.

The radio covers parts of Hughes, Stanley, Sully, Lyman, Jones, Hyde and Buffalo Counties and areas along Lake Oahe with multiple camping and recreation areas.

Three other towers on the NOAA weather radio network in South Dakota may provide some coverage during the outage of the Pierre tower.  They include Reliance at 162-point-525 megahertz; Wessington at 162-point-550 megahertz or Lowry at 162-point-five-zero-zero megahertz .