Darwin weather radar upgrade

09/09/2014

The Bureau of Meteorology will commence the replacement of the weather watch radar in Darwin today.

Bureau of Meteorology Northern Territory Regional Director, Todd Smith, said the upgrade will benefit communities in the Darwin and wider Northern Territory region.

"The upgrade of the Berrimah Radar will improve the radar's reliability for the coming wet season, and ensure the Berrimah radar can continue to service the Northern Territory community well into the future," Mr Smith said.

"In order to undertake the works safely, the Berrimah radar will be unavailable while installation and testing take place, with a return to service expected by the end of October.

"During the outage, Bureau forecasters will still have access to other radar data, satellite imagery, lightning detection and other observations to maintain forecast and warning services.

"During the outage, residents will be able to track the movement of showers and storms via the back-up Darwin Airport radar which will be displayed on the Bureau's website. The community will also have access to satellite images, real-time data from automatic weather stations and coastal observations.

"We understand that members of the community value the radar coverage, so we'll all be working hard to ensure the upgrade is completed as soon as possible."

No other radars in the Northern Territory will be affected by the outage.

Go to Weather radars for further information.