The Bureau of Meteorology has come under fire after it unveiled a major redesign of its website, with users slamming the new features as ‘too difficult to use’.
The overhaul, which the Bureau says will now offer ‘more localised information,’ sparked a wave of backlash online and on talkback radio just hours after going live.
Aussies have complained that simple features, including the much-loved rain radar, are now too difficult to locate on the redesigned platform.
Senior Meteorologist Angus Hines fronted ABC Radio to defend the changes, insisting the new site is packed with improvements.
‘I’ve been playing around with it… and I think the biggest improvement is how much information you can find for your local area,’ Hines said.
He added that users can now favourite locations and access ‘lots more information about today’s weather… observations, forecasts, rain and hourly forecasts’.
But Aussies’ biggest gripe? The radar.
Many users say they can’t see the forecasted weather in their area on the website, with the new version only showing the past 40 minutes of weather.
The Bureau of Meteorology has come under fire after it unveiled a major redesign of its website, with users slamming the new features as frustrating and confusing
The new website rain radar starts zoomed out, and only shows the past 40 minutes of weather
‘Why can’t you see what’s coming?’ ABC host Ali Moore pressed.
Hines admitted the feature is available on the Bureau’s app, but not on the website.
‘That’s a good question,’ he conceded, noting he wasn’t involved in the redesign.
Angry Aussies have taken to social media to complain about the Bureau redesign.
‘The rain radar without weather observations is an abomination,’ one wrote.
Another said the site was now ‘too difficult to use’.
Not everyone was critical, with one user urging patience.
‘I’ll cut the technical folks some slack. The old site was old and there is a really good chance that a lot of the stuff powering it is so outdated and/or arcane that it can’t be supported anymore and has to be rebuilt from the ground up,’ they said.
An image of the old rain radar, which showed forecasts of rain, not just the last 40 minutes
‘In absolutely zero such projects do you get full feature parity on the rebuilt site when you first launch it.’
Another said they felt bad for those responsible for the redesign.
‘Can you imagine being an unwitting web designer for them, when all these shenanigans started? Like they probably thought “oh yeah this looks nice I’m sure people will like this”. Must’ve been such a shocker,’ they wrote.
The Bureau of Meteorology came under fire in 2022 over another rebranding effort that urged Australians to stop using its long-standing nickname, ‘the BoM.‘
The move sparked widespread backlash after the government agency asked media outlets to refer to it only as ‘The Bureau’.
Then Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek criticised the campaign at the time, saying the agency’s priority ‘should be on weather, not branding.’
