The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has announced it will restore the previous colour scheme on its rain radar and weather map following a wave of complaints about its new $4.1 million website.<\/p>\n
The change went live on Friday, with the BOM saying other “ongoing changes and improvements” would be coming “via a planned schedule of regular releases”.<\/p>\n
“We’ve listened to your feedback, and have restored the previous radar colour scheme,” acting chief executive Peter Stone said.<\/p>\n
“We will continue to assess options for further updates and improvements at the same time as pushing on with our efforts to help the community become more familiar with the website.<\/p>\n
“So, more changes are in the pipeline.”<\/p>\n
The new BOM website has not been well received. (Supplied: Bureau of Meteorology)<\/p>\n
The BOM described the new website as “modern and sleek” when it went live<\/a> last week during wild weather in Victoria<\/a> and extreme heat across Australia<\/a>.<\/p>\n But it has received a torrent of complaints from Australians, including farmers who said they were finding it difficult to use.<\/p>\n The federal government also weighed in, with Energy Minister Chris Bowen telling ABC Radio National Breakfast earlier this week that the changes missed the mark.<\/p>\n “The bureau clearly has work to do in that it has lost community confidence in the new website,” Mr Bowen said.<\/p>\n Nationals leader David Littleproud also called for a review after locals in his Queensland electorate of Maranoa struggled to find information they needed after a recent rain event.<\/p>\n The bureau website receives about 1.8 million visits every day, and those numbers can increase to 5.7 million during extreme weather.<\/p>\n