Darwin Airport weather radar to undergo a significant upgrade

27/04/2022

The Bureau of Meteorology is upgrading the Darwin Airport weather radar to provide more reliable and up-to-date weather information.

The radar will be offline for up to eight weeks from 2 May 2022 to allow technicians to complete this work.

The upgraded radar system will improve wind tracking, rainfall image quality and severe storm predictions.

There will be no disruption to the community's access to weather information or the Bureau's emergency warning services as the Darwin Airport radar is not generally available to the public.

Warnings and forecasts will continue to be published on the Bureau's website and on the BOM Weather app. Community members can continue to access their weather information via their preferred platform.

This is part of the most significant program of upgrades of Australia's radar and observation network in a generation. By June 2024, the Bureau will deliver eight new radars, plus upgrades to 46 radars, almost 700 automatic weather systems and 200 flood warning network sites across the country.

The Darwin Airport 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.

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