A temporary weather radar will be installed in Wyndham, Western Australia, restoring access to radar imagery after the old radar was destroyed by a fire late last year.
The temporary weather radar will be installed at the existing site, and radar images are expected to be available to the community in October 2026.
This temporary radar will be in place for up to 3 years, until a new radar is procured and installed.
Radar manufacturing involves high-precision engineering, specialised components, low-volume production, and rigorous reliability standards. Buying and installing a new radar is a significant investment that can take several years.
The temporary weather radar is self-contained and can be installed in significantly less time and at less cost, restoring network coverage while the work to procure and install a permanent radar takes place.
The temporary radar will provide the same weather information as before, plus Doppler and dual‑polarisation capability, which were not available on the old radar. Doppler allows it to measure wind speed, and dual-polarisation gives extra information which helps with image correction.
However, due to the temporary radar's lower power output, the radar coverage area may be smaller than the permanent radar's coverage area.
There will be no radar coverage in the north-east Kimberley and north-west Gregory districts until the temporary Wyndham radar is installed.
Halls Creek weather radar provides some coverage south of Wyndham.
Bureau of Meteorology Western Australia Manager James Ashley said forecasters draw on many different information sources to monitor and predict weather.
"While radars are an important part of the Bureau's observations network, and we understand the value the community places on them, they are one part of a composite observing network that we draw data from for forecasting," Mr Ashley said.
"While the temporary radar is being installed, it will be business-as-usual for the Bureau's warning services and forecasts for the north-east Kimberley and north-west Gregory districts.
"We work very closely with emergency services and keep them informed of changes to all information sources."
The Bureau's weather forecasts and weather warning service has been designed so that it is resilient and not dependent on any one piece of equipment.
Forecasts and warnings for all regions are based on a combination of many different observing systems including satellites, automatic weather stations, radars, rain gauges, and hydrological monitoring stations.
Stay up to date with the latest forecasts and warnings on bom.gov.au and the BOM Weather app.
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