Service Announcements

Heatwave Service

Scheduled Release Date: 1 October 2021

The heatwave forecast starts on 1 October for the 2021-22 summer season. The forecast shows areas likely to be affected by heatwaves. A heatwave is three or more consecutive days that are unusually hot for the place and time of year. Heatwave forecasts are updated daily and cover a three-day period, with a forecast available for each of the next four days. For more information, please see the Heatwave Knowledge Centre.

Heatwave Forecast for Australia

Website notification of change

Scheduled Release Date: 3 March 2021

A web application firewall policy has been implemented for www.bom.gov.au which will block screen scraping activity.

The Bureau is monitoring screen scraping activity on the site and will commence interrupting, and eventually blocking, this activity on www.bom.gov.au from Wednesday, 3 March 2021. This is aimed at protecting infrastructure, system access and security, intellectual property and server/service load.

Web or screen scraping is the act of copying information that shows on a digital display so it can be used for another purpose. This activity has always been at odds with the Bureau's terms and conditions.

We understand www.bom.gov.au contributes significantly to the work of many individuals and organisations and we are committed to continuing to provide access through our registered user’s channel.

For further information, or to discuss the ongoing use of our materials, please make contact with us via weatherquestions@bom.gov.au.

Heatwave Service

Scheduled Release Date: 1 October 2020

The heatwave forecast service will be activated on 1 October for the 2020-21 summer. It will show regions affected by heatwave, severe heatwave and extreme heatwave. Heatwave forecasts for the three day period from the current day, and for the three day period from each of the next four days, will be produced each day.

Heatwave Forecast for Australia

Closure of Kent Town weather station

Scheduled Release Date: 31 July 2020

The Bureau of Meteorology will decommission the Kent Town weather station in Adelaide on 31 July 2020.

The area around the site at Kent Town is subject to several developments that will affect the reliability of weather data from the station. Anticipating this, a new station in West Terrace Adelaide was commissioned in 2017 and the two sites have been running in tandem to allow the Bureau to compare the data and identify differences for forecasts and long-term climate comparisons. The comparison period was completed in June 2020.

From 1 August 2020 all of the observation products and webpages for the Adelaide CBD will be from the West Terrace site only.

BOM Weather app

Scheduled Release Date:  June 2020

After a period of beta testing, the Bureau will release an updated version of the BOM Weather app via the App Store and Google Play. The BOM Weather app is free and available on mobile and tablet devices. The BOM Weather app provides weather information, forecasts, rain radar and warnings throughout Australia.

New features and enhancements in the updated version will include:

• hourly forecast details for 72 hours ahead
• localised weather warnings
• 'move with me' (current location weather wherever you are)
• pan and zoom rain radar (Australia wide)
• UV index and sun protection information 4 days ahead
• current wind in km/h and knots
• accessibility features
• widget on Android
• tablet-friendly design

Please be advised the existing BOM Weather app will be replaced when the user updates the app on their device. After an appropriate period, the existing BOM Weather app will be turned off and users will be required to update to the new version. The new BOM Weather app is compatible with Android 6 and iOS 11 or later devices.

The Bureau's other mobile-friendly weather service, www.weather.bom.gov.au, continues to remain accessible on any device.

m.bom.gov.au

Scheduled Release Date: 14^th February 2020

After a period of beta testing, the Bureau has released a new weather webpage www.weather.bom.gov.au which is accessible to anyone with a desktop computer, tablet, or smartphone.

The webpage includes the Bureau's weather warnings, forecasts and observations (all specific to the user's location) in a modern and accessible format. It also includes features such as:

• a completely new-look radar viewer, allowing users to pan and zoom between radars;
• regularly updated advice on whether it's likely to rain at a location (if radar coverage is available);
• three-hourly weather forecasts for the next 48-hours showing how the weather will change throughout the next two days; and
• metadata showing when the forecast was published, and where observation data are sourced.

Please be advised the existing m.bom.gov.au page will be decommissioned on the 30/04/2020 update all bookmarks and links to the new weather.bom.gov.au page.

The Bureau's other mobile-friendly weather service, the BOM Weather app, continues to be available for Apple and Android smartphone users.

Upgrade to Interactive Weather and Wave Charts

Scheduled Release Date: 3rd February 2020

Charts in the Interactive Weather and Wave Forecast Maps will be upgraded to incorporate the new ACCESS-G numerical weather prediction model.

The new model incorporates extensive scientific improvements, leading to an improvement in forecast skill of typically 6 to 12 hours relative to the previous version at forecast lead times of three or more days. The new ACCESS-G model also supersedes the existing ACCESS-R regional model. All charts will display data from ACCESS-G from the week commencing 3 February 2020.