Mackay’s weather radar has been switched off this morning, as a new and improved radar is installed for the region.
From June 1 the Bureau of Meteorology will start works to replace the Mackay weather radar with dual-polarised Doppler radar technology.
The old radar has been switched off, to allow the new tower and radome to be installed.
During the upgrade, the radar will be offline for approximately 6 months.
The upgraded radar, located at Mount Bassett, Mackay Harbour, will provide the local community and industry with more reliable and up-to-date weather information, as well as wind velocity information from cyclones and storms.
Anyone seeking situational awareness of rain can use alternative sources including the Gladstone, Bowen and Emerald radars, which provide some overlapping coverage for the region.
There will be no impact to the Bureau’s forecasts and warnings, which are informed by observations from a range of assets including satellites, upper atmosphere monitoring and automatic weather stations.
