Information: Darwin (Berrimah) radar upgrade

To advise members of the Darwin (Berrimah) radar upgrade completion.

Purpose

The Berrimah weather radar upgrade in Darwin is now complete. This weather radar has been offline for approximately 9 weeks from since 21 July 2022.

From tomorrow, Tuesday, 20 September 2022, the images from the newly upgraded Berrimah weather radar in Darwin will be live on the Bureau of Meteorology's website and BOM Weather app.

The upgraded weather radar will provide improved coverage for the north coast area of the Northern Territory and more comprehensive tropical cyclone and monsoon monitoring.

The Bureau of Meteorology is committed to providing an outstanding service to the Northern Territory community. The community, emergency services and local industry, including aviation and resources will benefit from the new digital receiver and control system with:

• new capabilities that track the location and strength of wind changes using Doppler technology 
• improved severe storm prediction by detecting weather systems such as tornadoes and intense rain during storms that can cause damage 
• enhanced information for emergency services with better fire plume height estimation and detection of fire-generating thunderstorms 
• increased accuracy and reliability of the radar.

The Northern Territory weather radar upgrades of Darwin Airport, Warruwi and Berrimah are one part the Bureau's ongoing work to enhance and improve the Australian radar and observation network.

As a key stakeholder of the Bureau of Meteorology, we appreciate any support you can give to advise your colleagues or networks about this important change.