The majority of Australia's weather radars are operated by the

Bureau of Meteorology The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM or BoM) is an executive agency of the Government of Australia, Australian Government that is responsible for providing Weather forecasting, weather forecasts and Meteorology, meteorological services to Australia a ...

(BoM), an executive agency of the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national executive government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The executive consists of the pr ...

. The radar network is continually being upgraded with new technology such as

doppler The Doppler effect (also Doppler shift) is the change in the frequency of a wave in relation to an observer who is moving relative to the source of the wave. The ''Doppler effect'' is named after the physicist Christian Doppler, who described ...

and dual polarisation to provide better now-casting.

Doppler weather radar A weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar (WSR) and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, and estimate its type (rain, snow, hail etc.). Modern weather radars are mostly pu ...

s are able to detect the movement of precipitation, making it very useful in detecting damaging winds associated with precipitation, and determining if a thunderstorm has a rotating updraft, a key indicator of the presence of the most dangerous type of thunderstorm, a

supercell A supercell is a thunderstorm characterized by the presence of a mesocyclone, a deep, persistently rotating updraft. Due to this, these storms are sometimes referred to as rotating thunderstorms. Of the four classifications of thunderstorms (su ...

. The new dual polarisation radars give forecasters the ability to: * detect debris in the atmosphere, leading to more accurate tornado warnings; * distinguish between different precipitation types, leading to better estimations of hail size and severity; * better identify areas of heavy rainfall, leading to more accurate flood warnings; and * discern between precipitation and non-meteorological echoes such as

chaff Chaff (; ) is dry, scale-like plant material such as the protective seed casings of cereal grains, the scale-like parts of flowers, or finely chopped straw. Chaff cannot be digested by humans, but it may be fed to livestock, ploughed into soil ...

, birds, and insects.

The dual polarisation transition

The transition to polarimetric (dual-polarised) radars began in 2017 with the upgrade of 4 Meteor 1500 radars located in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

, and

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. The network has further been enhanced through the installation of 8 new polarimetric Meteor 735 radars across WA,

NSW New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a state on the east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria to the south, and South Australia to the west. Its coast borders the Coral and Tasman Seas to the east. T ...

& Victoria, and two polarimetric WRM200 radars manufactured by Vaisala, one to replace the radar in Dampier, WA which had been destroyed by severe tropical cyclone

Damien Damien is a given name and less frequently a surname. The name is a variation of Damian which comes from the Greek ''Damianos''. This form originates from the Greek derived from the Greek word δαμάζω (damazō), "(I) conquer, master, overco ...

in 2020, and one to replace an ageing radar near Gove in the Northern Territory. Nine new Meteor 1700s were also installed between 2021 and 2024, 7 located in Qld, and 2 in WA, all equipped with dual polarisation technology. All the radars with the model name 'Meteor' were manufactured by

Selex ES Selex ES was a subsidiary of Finmeccanica, active in the electronics and information technology business, based in Italy and the UK, and formed in January 2013, following Finmeccanica's decision to combine its existing SELEX Elsag and SELEX ...

, now Leonardo. Specifications are available for the Meteo
735
Meteo
1700
and the Vaisal
WRM200

Future radar network upgrades

The BoM has plans to: * build a new radar in

Tennant Creek Tennant Creek () is a town located in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is the Northern Territory#Cities and towns, seventh largest town in the Northern Territory, and is located on the Stuart Highway, just south of the intersection with ...

* build a new radar in SW Western Australia in the Manjimup-Pemberton region * build a new radar in SW Queensland in the Quilpie region

Australian Capital Territory

The Australian Capital Territory is served by the Captains Flat radar, located in New South Wales.

New South Wales

Northern Territory

Queensland

South Australia

Tasmania

Victoria

Western Australia

Research Radars

Note: *Whilst the BoM may/may not own these radars, they are often involved with the radars for research applications.