Australia Weather News

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) says 400,000 people a day are using its old website, nearly four months after it launched a new-look $96.5 million replacement.

Radar updates and other improvements have barely tempered criticism of the new website since its October launch.

The agency has also confirmed it spent $1.15 million on the recent updates, taking the total cost of the new site to about $97.65 million.

The BOM has kept its old site online at a slightly different URL while improvements are made.

Victorian farmer Michael Overington said he was glad it was still there, because he "gave up" on the new site.

"I'm still using the old site … I only hope to hell and pray to God that the old site still stays there because I find it a boon in having the old site and not the new one," he said.

Old site still getting clicks

BOM executives went before the Senate Environment and Communications Committee earlier this week, where they were questioned about the new site's cost and usability.

Chief executive officer Stuart Minchin again acknowledged the BOM "clearly didn't get it right for every sector of the community".

But he reiterated that the security and accessibility of the old website were outdated and needed improvement.

"It really wasn't meeting all of the community's needs, and we needed to act on that to make it more secure, make it more accessible," Dr Minchin said.

Dr Minchin said the BOM mobile app remained the most popular way for Australians to access weather information.

"Most people are using our app for access to weather, 6 million users a day for the app, about 2 million for the new website, and roughly at its peak, about 400,000 for the reg site," he said.

Dr Minchin said only a "small sector of the community" was using the old site at the moment, so it was not the "majority of the use".

During the hearing, Victorian Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson pushed for answers about the true cost of the site, as well as how much was spent on the recent upgrades.

Senator Henderson: "Dr Minchin, has there been any further costs incurred?"

Dr Minchin: "I can confirm that, as I mentioned earlier, we're continually doing incremental improvements to the website. This is always budgeted after a website release. There is a need to adjust and that across November and December 2025, incremental improvement has cost $1.15 million over that period."

Senator Henderson: "So is that on top of the $96 million?"

Dr Minchin: "Yes, this is all of the upgrades and adjustments that we've made already to the website."

Senator Henderson: "So we're now at $97.1 million, is that the total cost?"

Dr Minchin: "That would be close. Yes."

'Simple, quick, reliable' information

Farmers and other users of the BOM website told the ABC that the new site was still too hard to use and lacked the data they needed.

Mr Overington, who farms sheep and grows crops at Moytson in Victoria's west, said he felt the old website was easier to use.

"Let's face it, I'm a baby boomer, so we're getting old and we like it the way it was, which is a simple one-stop shop. I felt the old system did that," Mr Overington said.

"I don't want to go through and put in my location and where I am and all the rest of it. I just don't want that.

 "I just want a simple, quick, reliable source to get that information."

His frustration was shared by Mick and Rosie Leeming, who farm at Pigeon Ponds in south-west Victoria.

"I don't want to spend ages looking at my phone trying to access weather information," Mr Leeming said.

"I have to scroll one way for some information, then the other way for details."

It was not just farmers who were wound up about the changes.

Gus Syme, a CFA volunteer in central Victoria who also works in a concrete supply business, said fighting fires was made difficult.

"I'm on the edge of the Longwood fire, and I can't explain to you … just how annoyed I am about the changes," he said.

Mr Syme said it was easier to see wind change information on the original BOM site.

"If you were fighting a fire you could actually see, on the [old] bureau site, where the wind change was," he said.

No switch-off date yet for old site

Dr Minchin told Senate estimates he expected usage of the old site to reduce as further alterations were made to the new design.

"We are hoping to address most of the major tranches of concern in releases over the next six months," he said.

Although a date has not been set for the removal of the old site, Dr Minchin assured Australians it would not be done in a hurry.

"We certainly will not be turning off our REG capability until we are confident that the Australian community are comfortable," he said.