The Australian Bureau of Meteorology has developed a new app upgrading its access to the world’s most extensive weather and climate observation network.
Officially launching the improved app, Minister for the Environment, Sussan Ley said it had already attracted 10 million user sessions in two weeks of trials.
She said the app gave Australians in any location access to hourly forecasts over the next three days (replacing three-hourly forecasts for the coming day), pan and zoom radars with individual location markers, current wind speeds in km/h and knots, and a four-day UV index.
“Having reliable weather information at your finger-tips is not a luxury for many people, it can be vital,” Ms Ley said.
“The Bureau operates one of the world’s most extensive weather and climate observation networks, and this app places that network directly in the hands of Australians.”
She said the importance people placed on accessing that information was underlined by the fact that 3.3 million devices in Australia had the weather app installed and that in the last two weeks of its trial period 1.5 million people had upgraded to take advantage of its new services.
New features include enhanced optimisation for better use on small screens including tablets, and improved usability of the radar function.
Users with vision impairment have better access, with the app offering resizable text and screen reader compatibility with the ‘accessibility’ functions on smart phones and tablets.
The Bureau said the new BOM Weather app was available from the usual app suppliers and was compatible with Android 6 and iOS 11 or later devices.
“The Bureau’s other mobile-friendly weather service, ‘www.weather.bom.gov.au’, continues to remain accessible on any device,” it said.
