The National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office New Orleans/Baton Rouge, now based in Slidell, Louisiana, traces its roots to a U.S. Army Signal Service office opened in New Orleans on October 4, 1870. It operated a hurricane forecast center from 1935 until 1966, when that responsibility shifted to the National Hurricane Center, and later moved to Slidell in 1979, absorbing the Baton Rouge office in 1993. In a significant upgrade, the office's KLIX radar was relocated in late 2023, forcing reliance on neighboring radars until a new KHDC radar was installed in Hammond in March 2024. The office also manages six NOAA Weather Radio stations, including the Buras transmitter (WXL41), which began broadcasting on August 17, 2005—just two weeks before Hurricane Katrina knocked it off the air, though service was restored in early 2006. These stations deliver critical weather and hazard alerts across Louisiana and Mississippi, covering areas from New Orleans to Gulfport and even 40 miles into the Gulf of Mexico.