RIVERLAND and Mallee farmers will soon have more accurate weather data and significantly improved radar coverage when the radar in Mildura is replaced next year.
The $5 million Federal Government-funded replacement will address existing coverage blackspots throughout South Australia and introduce technologies to better track storms, bushfire plumes and insects.
Bureau of Meteorology South Australia state manager John Nairn said the replacement would be a significant improvement over the current radar.
“Riverland farmers are about to see their skies open up on the radar,” he said.
“Once the new radar is installed, coverage will extend west of Mildura into areas north and south of the Murray River, previously not covered.
“Riverland farmers will be able to see where rain is occurring and where severe storms are located on the radar.
“This will allow the agricultural community to track weather systems as they impact orchards, vineyards and other businesses.
“The radar will also verify damage caused by thunderstorms through a better storm watching capability.”
Mr Nairn said the now 30-year-old radar was installed mainly for wind finding, meaning it was ill-suited to tracking weather.
“The dual purpose of tracking balloons and weather watch was not thought of when Mildura was put in, and with balloons you are looking up more than you are looking out,” he said.
“When the interest in weather watch came, the siting of the current radar had a shadow to the west due to infrastructure and vegetation, so you had a dead zone that covered a heck of a lot of South Australia.”
Mr Nairn said radar data has now become “keenly sought after” due to the internet making radar data more readily available.
“Farmers have come to rely upon the information that you can gain in terms of where rain is occurring and tracking storms, or tracking effects that you can see associated with fire or dust, or even insect plagues,” he said.
Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley said the new radar will provide “improved real-time weather services for the community”.
“I know how much regional communities depend on good weather information, and that’s why we are undertaking this significant body of work to uplift the country’s radar network,” Ms Ley said.
“We are committed to supporting regional Australia and this new radar, along with the broader improvements of the country’s radar network will be critical in helping businesses make better decisions and keep communities safe from the impacts of severe weather.”
Mr Nairn said the bureau would combine data from the new radar and its existing weather stations in the region with information from privately owned automatic weather stations to get more accurate rainfall calculations.
“As we see private automatic weather stations turn on, and there are many more of those weather stations than what the bureau owns, the data that they share can be incorporated into the process to calculate the amount of rain that has occurred in the footprint of the radar,” he said.
The increased accuracy and breadth of data that will be collected by the new radar will allow for farmers to use the information in innovative ways. In terms of farmers who may be applying fertiliser to broadacre farms, if there isn’t rainfall the urea can evaporate and disappear,” Mr Nairn said.
“There’s an opportunity for farmers to use better technologies, including the radar, to understand where their fertiliser has been effective and where they need to got back and reapply.
“I’m only sharing the wins that I’ve become aware of; there are many ways in which people use this information that I may not know about. It’s an innovation area.”
The new radar is currently expected to be operational in early 2021, though current COVID-19 restrictions may cause a delay.