New Broome radar tech to improve Bureau of Meteorology’s Kimberley weather forecasts

The Kimberley community will soon be able to access more reliable and up-to-date weather information, improved tracking of wind gusts, higher resolution rainfall images and a greater ability to detect intense rainfall during storms as upgrades to the Broome radar are rolled out. Works started last week on the upgrades, which will see the Bureau of Meteorology install a new digital receiver and control system in Broome. As a result, the weather radar would be offline for up to eight weeks, with the works planned for the dry season to ensure the least disruption to the community. Durack MHR Melissa Price said that during the upgrade the people of the Kimberley would still have access to the latest weather information. Ms Price said during the upgrade residents could still access the latest weather information. “We want to ensure the community of Broome and surrounds have the best infrastructure possible to help plan their lives and to inform key business decisions,” she said. “The upgraded radar will provide more information to assist emergency services especially during bushfire seasons and the detection of fire-generated thunderstorms and determining the height of fire plumes. “During the upgrade people can still access images showing temperature, rain and wind information through the Bureau's publicly accessible MetEye service.” The Broome radar is one part of a complex weather observation network of around 11,000 assets including satellites, automatic weather stations and flood warning networks.