Australians are famously fond of talking about the weather. The topic serves as both a great unifier and obsession — particularly when a heatwave, cold snap or wild storm strikes.

Even if you aren’t a weather nerd, if you use your phone to check the forecast after a rumble of thunder or find yourself subject to endless talk about the sweltering weekend ahead on TV and radio, all of the information is drawn from Australia’s extensive national network of over 60 weather radars.

Although the BOM is a federal entity, the WA State Government committed $23 million to speed up the upgrade of its own network.

“I guess there was a view in Western Australia that we weren’t getting the sort of investment that was really needed for our farming community so the state has stepped up,” State Agricultural Minister Alannah MacTiernan said.

“We’re very export focused so our farmers really do need to be able to be very cost effective and having access to Doppler radar really does rein-in costs.”

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-05/new-era-weather-forecasting-in-wa/11080638