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The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) has responded to the intensifying storm around its $4 million website redesign as pressure for changes continues to mount.
The BoM unveiled its first website revamp in 12 years last week, but it quickly came under fire after savage storms left a trail of destruction across the eastern seaboard.
Users complained the new website did not indicate storm severity after wild weather wreaked havoc across Queensland and Victoria at the weekend.
On Wednesday afternoon, the BoM’s acting CEO Peter Stone said he acknowledged community concerns and “the significance of the change”.
“We approached this change with careful consideration, and we understand that it will take time for some people to adapt. I genuinely apologize for the difficulties this transition has caused,” he stated in a press release.
“It’s clear we need to do more to help people through the change, both by making adjustments to the website and by helping users to understand its new features,” Stone said.
It follows Environment Minister Murray Watt’s meeting with Stone on Tuesday.
Watt said in a statement following that it was clear the new website wasn’t meeting community expectations and that he had told the acting CEO needed to consider feedback and “where appropriate, adjust the website’s settings as soon as possible”.
Watt has also been under pressure to push for change after Queensland treasurer David Janetzki wrote to him, saying the revamp, just before the start of the main storm season, can, “at its best, be described as short-sighted”.
And on Wednesday morning, Nationals leader David Littleproud also said he had written to Watt after he’d received complaints from locals in his regional Queensland electorate of Marnoa.
He said the locals complained the new website was difficult to navigate and lacked key tools, including the ability to enter GPS coordinates for specific property locations.
“As a result, families, business and farmers are unable to access vital localised data such as river heights and rainfall information,” he said.
Littleproud said he had asked Watt “to review the functionality of the updated BoM website and consider restoring key tools relied upon by farmers and rural communities”.
He suggested BoM’s management needed to improve and accused them of running a business model of “fail and simply ask for more money”, and of poor forecasting that had, at times, caused confusion among farmers.
“They can’t even manage to create a basic website,” Littleproud remarked to reporters.
Anthony Cornelius, managing director at forecasting company Weatherwatch, has also been critical. In a post on LinkedIn on Monday, he said there were three major issues users were finding: the new radar underestimated storm intensity, it lagged, and the new design made it difficult to find information when needed.
“It beggars belief that the BoM would roll out such a significant change to an essential infrastructure service just as the main storm season is about to start,” Cornelius said.
In his statement on Wednesday afternoon, Stone said: “The safety of Australians is our primary concern.”
“We want to reiterate that observations, forecasts, warnings and severe weather updates continue to be readily available on our website, the app and our social media channels.
“There has been significant feedback about the radar on the new website. It’s important to note that the website radar provides one view of the current weather situation. It is not intended to replicate or replace the Bureau’s weather warnings which are created by our expert meteorologists and issued ahead of a severe weather event.”
Stone said the BoM welcomed feedback on the new website and was “moving quickly” to act on that already received.
“I am confident the community will start to see more improvements in the coming weeks.”
