[OZAPRS] Melbourne Wx Radar news....

[Richard Hoskin]

Gday,

FYI from a weather radar engineer.

Just a heads up that the radar at Laverton will be switched off
permanently
on the 22nd Jan so construction of the replacement Doppler radar tower and
system can commence.

Until the new doppler radar is commissioned, the radar at Tullamarine
airport will assume the role of primary weather watch for Melbourne.

Unfortunately the site at the airport is less than ideal for weather watch
so long range coverage may be affected, particularly in the north west
direction due to local blockage of a nearby hill.

This all of course assumes we will get rain in Melbourne

Date of expected commissioning of the new radar has not yet been set.

As further background, when the Bureau moved the Met office from Laverton
to
Tullamarine many many years ago, the radar at the airport was only ever
originally intended to be used for wind finding. ie balloon tracking.

The weather watch function was only added several years after the
Tullamarine office was opened, and even then it was never expected to
become
the primary WW radar for Melbourne. This is why the Bureau has not
provided
Tullamarine's images to the web in the past.

Now we have a shiny new doppler machine to go into Laverton, and it will
take some time to migrate to the new edifice. Also there is not too many
sites around Melbourne that are generally good for WW coverage, and
available for construction.
Due to the danger of RF exposure, the old radar at Laverton must be turned
off during construction.
----------------------

This will mean that the UIRadar maps for Melbourne will not work.
I will create some maps for the Tulla radar.

Cheers
Richard


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