‘Sh*tshow’: Bureau of Meteorology staffer makes staggering admission
One of the Bureau’s own has made a staggering confession about the national weather service’s new website, amid an ongoing furore over its “dangerous” redesign.
One of the Bureau of Meteorology’s own has made a staggering admission about the national weather service’s new website, amid an ongoing furore over its “sh*tshow” of a redesign.
The BOM debuted the revamp last Wednesday, intended to create “a clearer, more accessible and secure website experience” that would better support the estimated eight million Australians who use it “when it matters most”. The site’s daily weather information and warnings are viewed more than 2.6 billion times each year.
Reception to the BOM’s new look, however, has been largely negative, with meteorologists and everyday Australians alike slamming the “dangerous” changes, which rolled out just days before storms smashed the country’s east coast.
Within hours of its launch, the Bureau’s Facebook page was inundated with hundreds of comments, complaining the site is now “harder to navigate” and “an absolute sh*tshow”.
Speaking to ABC Radio on Monday in the wake of the storms, BOM meteorologist Livio Regano confessed he was still using the old website.
“I don’t like (the redesign) myself,” Mr Regano said, even though “we really need to get used to the new one”.
“It was never going to be a smooth transition to (a new version of) literally one of the most popular websites in Australia. Naturally, it’s going to upset a lot of people when there are changes.
“Change doesn’t come well, especially when we have often a much older audience that’s become used to the (old) website.
“In the end, it comes down to what we’re used to. A lot of people have complained about it being clunky for many years and so the BOM has really just tried to satisfy the complaints – and now of course it’s generated a new lot of complaints.”
Mr Regano added that he was “sure there are things the bureau can polish up”.
“Of course, change is never welcome, especially when our website’s been frozen in time for 15 years,” he said.
“I think in the fullness of time we will probably see it has many advantages.”
Weatherman slams ‘dangerous’ change
It comes as a prominent Australian weatherman called on the BOM to rethink some of its new features.
Tools used by the public changed in the ‘upgrade’, including a radar system. The system previously allowed users to move between the past and future to see the movement of rain and thunderstorms.
The new system only allows for toggling back, and for the present.
Townsville commercial fisherman Nathan Rynn checked the website from his fishing boat last week.
“We are very heavily reliant on those radar sites to be able to make the call or invest time to go out,” he told the ABC.
“I’ve seen on social media, people are pretty annoyed by it leading into storm season.”
One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts called the new weather radar “a disaster”.
“Queenslanders saw it fail first-hand on Sunday – and the consequences were real,” Mr Roberts wrote on X.
“We need it changed back.”
‘Glaring issue’
Meteorologist Tony Auden highlighted other changes, including the colour scheme, calling it a “glaring issue”.
“While it’s never been properly defined, we’ve always had a rule of thumb that black on the radar means hail, and it’s worked pretty well over the years,” Auden told 7NEWS.
“The new BOM radar view has essentially clipped the top end of the radar scale at orange, so we can’t see any detail in the biggest storms.
“I’d almost go as far as saying the changes in navigation and the changes in radar colour could almost be dangerous. People were severely underestimating the risk of the hailstorms that came through Brisbane yesterday based on the new colours.”
Bad timing
Wild storms knocked out power for thousands of homes and businesses in Queensland and Victoria over the weekend, with some affected areas now being warned to brace for searing temperatures and fire danger.
In southeast Queensland, energy provider Energex recorded 65,000 outages at one point on Sunday. Powercor in Melbourne had 28,485 outages.
Data from the Victorian SES shows 536 people called the volunteer brigade for help, and about the same time, 100km/h wind gusts and 5cm hailstones were lashing parts of Brisbane.
Queenslanders and residents of northern NSW are now being warned to prepare for heatwave and bushfire conditions to start the new week.
A rare tornado ripped through parts of Melbourne on Sunday night.
Videos posted to social media show a funnel coming down from a cloud base over Melbourne that left a path of destruction across the city’s western suburbs, including Wyndham Vale, Werribee, and Hoppers Crossing, about 4.30pm on Sunday.
Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist David Crock said it was quite uncommon to see a tornado in Melbourne, but the geographical line of damage recorded through the western suburbs provided strong evidence of one.
He said while radar data showed a weak signal, there was likely a brief tornado in the area that lasted just minutes.
“We do see it from time to time as we enter the peak of storm season,” Mr Crock said.
“The track of damages through the areas, the way it tracks east and then northeast, that is a distinctive path a thunderstorm with a tornado would take.
“These things can develop really quickly and without too much notice.”
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Originally published as ‘Sh*tshow’: Bureau of Meteorology staffer makes staggering admission
