The Bureau of Meteorology has upgraded the rain radar and weather map on its redesigned website, almost a year after the site’s launch prompted criticism. The latest changes went live this week and are intended to make rainfall information easier to find and interpret, according to the bureau and ABC News Australia.
The update adds radar locations, quick links and clickable radar icons. Range rings provide a visual guide to the distance between rainfall and familiar landmarks or locations, while the revised display is designed to show light to moderate rain with greater definition and detail.
The bureau also said the map now detects and displays rain more accurately when data from overlapping radars is used. The changes follow earlier criticism of the new radar’s appearance and usability, including complaints that led the bureau to change its colour scheme soon after the website launched in October last year during a period of wild weather.
BOM chief executive Stuart Minchin said the organisation had responded to feedback from users who rely on local radar information. “We know how much value the community places on their local rain radar,” he said. Dr Minchin added that the changes were intended to help people reach their local radar more quickly and estimate how far away rain was.
The website redesign cost $96.5 million, a figure that was later scrutinised, and BOM executives faced questioning in a federal parliamentary Senate inquiry, ABC News Australia reported. In August, Dr Minchin announced an independent review, according to the supplied source material.
Further weather-data updates are planned for later this year, including changes involving some Australian places with dual names. Dr Minchin encouraged users to continue submitting feedback, saying the bureau would respond with further enhancements and adjustments.