Kimberley farmers face three-year wait for new weather radar
Lightning struck the Bureau of Meteorology radar for Wyndham on Christmas Day, sparking a fire and causing "considerable damage". (Supplied: Bureau of Meteorology)
In short:
There has been no weather radar coverage in north-east Western Australia for nearly three months.
An Ord Valley farmer says the outage has been tough on growers who would ordinarily rely on radar data for planting purposes during the wet season.
What's next?
The Bureau of Meteorology will install a temporary weather radar in Wyndham, which will be in place for up to three years until it can procure a new radar.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) says a broken weather radar in Western Australia's north will not be replaced for three years.
There has been no radar coverage in the north-east Kimberley, including in areas across Kununurra, Wyndham and Lake Argyle, about 3,000 kilometres from Perth, for nearly three months.
Farmers in the Kimberley's Ord Valley typically access real-time radar information multiple times a day during the wet season. (ABC Kimberley: Alys Marshall)
A BOM spokesperson said the radar was "beyond repair" after a lightning strike caused a part to fail on Christmas Day, resulting in a fire.
"We will install a temporary weather radar on the existing tower at the Wyndham site," they said.
"We expect radar images to be available to the community in October 2026.
"The temporary radar will be in place for up to three years, until we are able to procure and install a new radar."
The spokesperson said the temporary radar's coverage area might be smaller than the permanent radar's coverage area, due to a lower power output.
Mental burden on farmers
It is planting season for cotton growers in the Ord Valley, and according to Kimberley Agricultural Investment farm manager Luke McKay, it is a particularly bad time of the year for the radar to be down.
"It's the only time of the year it's important, really," he said.
"The last four months is the most critical time that you'd need it to view and see storms approaching."
Luke McKay says it is a particularly bad time of year for the Wyndham radar to be offline. (ABC News: Tom Edwards)
Farmers in the region usually use the real-time weather radar data to determine the best times and places to plant their crops.
Mr McKay said without the radar, he had in some ways been "flying blind", and the mental toll had been significant.
"The radar's always given us a bit of certainty," he said.
"There's been a fair mental toll on everyone, I think, in not having that information at hand, and having to look around and guess and assume and hope."
Outage a 'safety issue'
East Kimberley Chamber of Commerce and Industry president and local aviation business operator Bobby Henggeler said the outage had affected other businesses as well as farmers.
"In the aviation sector, it's a tool in the toolbox," he said.
"We've got lots of means to get weather information, but the radar did allow for a real-time, or fairly close to real-time, update, wherever we had reception.
"It is also a tool to allow us to operate safer, so therefore you could say it is also a safety issue, not having that information."
Bobby Henggeler says the radar outage could pose a safety risk. (Australian Story: Ben Cheshire)
Mr Henggeler said people, particularly in the agricultural sector, had become frustrated.
"Frustration on the timeframe … and lack of communication or information from the bureau into what we can expect in terms of when that system might be up and running again and how that would look," he said.
"I personally would question the, for lack of a better word, spending priorities of the bureau in light of monies getting spent on websites and other areas where it seems basic infrastructure in remote areas or across the state seems to be lacking.
"So the appropriateness, in my opinion, of spending big money on software versus infrastructure that's out in the field to help us get on with life … I question that."
The bureau confirmed there would be no radar coverage in the north-east Kimberley and north-west Gregory districts until it installs the temporary Wyndham radar.
Mr McKay says the usefulness of the Wyndham radar to Kimberley farmers will reduce now the Ord's cotton planting window is nearly closed. (ABC News: Kelsey Reid)
A spokesperson added that forecasts and warnings for all regions were based on a combination of many different observing systems, and people could stay up to date with the latest forecasts and warnings via the website.
It comes after the bureau revealed late last year that its new website cost $96.5 million to design.
The national weather agency was flooded with complaints from the public after the website launched in October.