Construction has begun on the new Toowoomba weather radar

15/09/2023

Construction has begun on a new weather radar near Toowoomba, in the Darling Downs region of Queensland.

Located near Crows Nest, the new radar will enable more customers to access real-time weather information and increase the Bureau's forecast accuracy.

Bureau Senior Responsible Officer for Queensland, Peter Stone, said that once complete, the Toowoomba region will have access to improved weather information including real-time rainfall and wind conditions across larger areas.

"The community, emergency services and local industry, including agriculture and tourism, will benefit from the installation of the new weather radar as it will help to make more-informed decisions", Mr Stone said.

The new radar is scheduled for completion in mid-2024, subject to any unforeseen delays. It will add coverage to current radar gaps to the west and south-west of Toowoomba. This includes the northern parts of the Moonie and Border rivers catchments, the upper Condamine River catchment, and the mining and resources precinct around Chinchilla.

In 2023 the Bureau of Meteorology is undertaking significant work to improve Queensland radar infrastructure. The Bureau is installing a new weather radar in Toowoomba and upgrading Brisbane (Marburg), Cairns and Mackay weather radars.

The Toowoomba radar is one part of a comprehensive weather observation network of more than 11,000 assets including satellites, upper atmosphere monitoring, automatic weather stations, ocean buoys and flood warning networks.

These projects are part of the Bureau's ongoing work to enhance and improve the Australian radar and observation network.

ENDS...