26 October
2006, New $1.6m weather radar for Western Queensland
- Farmers, firefighters and pilots in Western
Queensland will be among those who can now gain
better weather information with the official opening
today of the new Warrego Weather Radar.
Parliamentary Secretary with
ministerial responsibility for the Bureau of Meteorology,
Greg Hunt, said the new $1.6 million state-of-the-art
facility constructed at Dulbydilla, about half
way between Morven and Mungallala, will provide
better data and cover a wider area.
"The new location for the
radar will continue to detect rainfall activity
well to the west of Charleville and will also
provide improved coverage of areas to the east
including Mitchell and Roma," Mr Hunt said.
"The new radar's practical
limit of coverage extends southwest to the town
of Cunnamulla and southeast to the town of St
George and to the north the coverage extends to
the southern limits of the Carnarvon National
Park along The Great Dividing Range. I congratulate
Mr Scott for his efforts to gain the new facility."
Federal Member for Maranoa,
Bruce Scott, who officially opened the new radar
said it will benefit many local business groups
in their planning and preparations.
"This new facility will
provide meteorologists and the public, through
the weather bureau's popular website, the ability
to more easily detect rain bearing systems, and
follow their movement," Mr Scott said.
"It is an important tool
for local weather services as well as the general
public, aviators, the rural sector and emergency
services, including the Rural Fire Service and
flood managers within local councils.
"With a more efficient
weather tracking system, farmers, graziers, aviators
and many other groups can plan their jobs in light
of any predicted rainfall," he said.
The former radar at Charleville
Airport had been in operation since 1983. It was
primarily sited for tracking weather balloons
but was not in the optimum location for weather
watch radar operations, which hampered coverage
of the surrounding area.
This new Dulbydilla site is
one of 15 weather watch radars funded under a
five-year $62 million radar upgrade project which
is being funded by the Australian Government.
Imagery from the Bureau's network
of weather radars is freely available on the Bureau
web site www.bom.gov.au. The site is consistently
rated as one of Australia's most popular websites.
John Deller (Greg Hunt's office)
Monica McCabe (Mr Scott's office)
