Australia's BoM Faces Criticism as $86M Radar Overhaul Fails During Severe Storms

Australia's Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) recently launched a modernized weather website and app revamp costing about $86 million, which immediately faced widespread public criticism for confusing layouts, slow updates, and missing features during a critical storm season. The bureau responded by reverting the default radar display from "rain rate" back to "rain reflectivity" to address public and government concerns, notably from Environment Minister Murray Watt. Despite these adjustments, the new radar experienced outages during severe thunderstorms in southeast Queensland, undermining public trust and prompting users to rely on older radar versions or third-party weather services. BoM acknowledged the issues and assured that the radar outage was unrelated to the website overhaul, with staff working to resolve data flow interruptions. The controversy highlights the challenges faced by BoM in modernizing critical weather infrastructure while maintaining reliability during extreme weather events. The bureau continues to refine the platform and educate users to adapt to the new system amid ongoing scrutiny.