They said the outage was entirely unrelated to the new website, and affected both website and app.
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“Bureau staff investigated and identified an interruption to the flow of observed rainfall data which is used in the ‘rain rate’ radar images,” a spokesperson said.
“This data feed was quickly reinstated, and all radar images were restored.
“The bureau’s forecasts and warnings were not impacted by this outage and continue to be published on the bureau’s website, the BOM Weather app and our social media channels.”
The latest problems come in a difficult week for the weather bureau. Its long-planned website upgrade, which was launched on Wednesday last week, has been widely criticised.
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Queensland Premier David Crisafulli chastised the organisation in state parliament after storms lashed Brisbane over the weekend, leaving more than 100,000 temporarily without power.
His criticism focused on the bureau’s changed the colour scheme on their radar.
“The changes to the federally run Bureau of Meteorology website are not good enough,” Crisafulli said on Tuesday morning.
“The changes to the website don’t make sense. The website is flawed. Easy access to individual radars have been removed.”
Treasurer David Janetzki also wrote to Environment Minister Murray Watt, whose portfolio includes the Bureau of Meteorology, describing the changes to colour-coding of rainfall intensity and removal of Caboolture as a locator on the map as “critical flaws”.
“The decision to make the site live on 22 October – just as Queensland and Australia enter storm season – can, at its best, be described as short-sighted, while at its worst, it has put the lives and safety of Queenslanders at risk,” he wrote.
On Tuesday, Watt said the new website had not met users’ expectations. He said he had met with the bureau’s acting chief executive, Peter Stone, and urged the body to urgently improve the website’s functionality and usability.
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