The weather radar at Bairnsdale will be\u00a0off-line\u00a0for around six weeks as it undergoes a $600,000 upgrade.<\/p>\n
Local MP Darren Chester said the radar would be switched off from Monday, August 31,\u00a0so\u00a0improvements could be made to its accuracy, reliability and precision.<\/p>\n
“Gippsland will, for the first time, have access to Doppler wind data, which improves forecasters ability to monitor wind speed and direction in the upper atmosphere,\u201d Mr\u00a0Chester said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis information about the upper winds can, for example,\u00a0help\u00a0forecasters to monitor and analyse fire behaviour and monitor smoke plumes\u00a0during a bushfire.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Doppler also helps forecasters to\u00a0detect and monitor severe thunderstorms,\u00a0analyse the structure of thunderstorms\u00a0and\u00a0determine the strength of approaching storms.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis information\u00a0can\u00a0then be used\u00a0to\u00a0assess\u00a0whether the storm may also bring other\u00a0severe weather,\u00a0such as\u00a0strong winds, hail, downbursts and heavy rain,\u00a0and\u00a0help the bureau to\u00a0create better weather warnings.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis\u00a0outage will inconvenience those who use the Bairnsdale radar,\u00a0but\u00a0when the work is done\u00a0Gippsland\u00a0will have\u00a0the best and most-reliable radar infrastructure available.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the radar is out of action,\u00a0Bureau of Meteorology forecasters will continue to draw on observations from a range of sources, including satellites, automatic weather stations and flood warning networks, to\u00a0continue to\u00a0provide accurate and timely forecasts and\u00a0warnings.<\/p>\n
Radar images will not be publicly available\u00a0while the upgrade is underway, but people can still receive forecast information via Met Eye and Himaiwari-8 satellite images.<\/p>\n
Mr Chester said more\u00a0precise\u00a0forecasts\u00a0would be\u00a0invaluable to many in East Gippsland.<\/p>\n
\u201cAccurate weather forecasting is much more than knowing whether to wear a jacket or take an umbrella,\u201d Mr Chester said.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor\u00a0industries\u00a0including fishing, forestry, tourism and agriculture,\u00a0reliable and detailed\u00a0predictions are\u00a0vital\u00a0in determining\u00a0whether they need to\u00a0act\u00a0to prevent weather-related losses or damage.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor those who\u00a0like to\u00a0enjoy Gippsland\u2019s natural attractions, accurate forecasting allows them to make well-informed decisions\u00a0and\u00a0stay safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bairnsdale radar is one of five\u00a0weather\u00a0radars\u00a0in Victoria\u00a0and is the only one in Gippsland.\u00a0It is located\u00a0at Bairnsdale Aerodrome and has been operational since 2008.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The weather radar at Bairnsdale will be\u00a0off-line\u00a0for around six weeks as it undergoes a $600,000 upgrade. Local MP Darren Chester said the radar would be switched off from Monday, August 31,\u00a0so\u00a0improvements could be made to its accuracy, reliability and precision. “Gippsland will, for the first time, have access to Doppler wind data, which improves forecasters […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[342,3924],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/darrenchester.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159655"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/darrenchester.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/darrenchester.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darrenchester.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darrenchester.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/darrenchester.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159655\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/darrenchester.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darrenchester.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darrenchester.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}