6 December 2023
BOM Takes Townsville Radar Offline as Cyclone Brews
Federal Member for Herbert Phillip Thompson is calling on the Bureau of Meteorology to immediately scrap plans to take the Townsville weather radar offline on Monday as Cyclone Jasper approaches.
The Bureau is switching off the current Townsville radar between 5:00am and 7:30pm from 11 to 18 December to begin work to install a new radar.
The Bureau’s own current forecast models show Cyclone Jasper has the potential to affect the city on or around 11 December.
Mr Thompson said the timing could not be worse.
“We have a cyclone forecast to potentially arrive on the exact day the Bureau of Meteorology wants to turn the Townsville radar off,” he said.
“We need this radar to keep the community and our local disaster management group informed with the latest information.
“This is absolutely unacceptable – it puts the community at risk.
“I’m calling on the Environment Minister to intervene and immediately put a stop to these works.”
While the Bureau has said it will turn the old radar back on in the event of severe weather, Mr Thompson said he worried the temperamental equipment might not start up again.
“We know the Townsville Radar can be temperamental – locals will remember how it failed back in March 2021 when Cyclone Niran was threatening Townsville,” he said.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it in the middle of cyclone season. Keep it up and running until the end of April when the threat has eased.”
The Bureau has also advised the Townsville radar will also switch off at the same times between 15 January and 8 March 2024.
ENDS