Weather radar on way for Otago

The weather radar will be capable of more clearly warning emergency services about issues like recent flooding. Photo / ODT

State-owned weather bureau the MetService is looking for a site near Dunedin where it can build a $3 million weather radar, capable of more clearly warning emergency services about issues like recent flooding.

The new radar, expected to be commissioned in 2018, would also give farmers and contractors a better idea of what weather was coming as they planned their day.

The matter was raised by councillor Kate Wilson at a recent Dunedin City Council planning and regulatory committee meeting, following the South Dunedin flooding earlier this month.

Asked yesterday about the issue, the MetService said a Government announcement this month of an operating funding increase that would grow to about $5 million a year by 2018-19 meant the service could provide a new rain radar in Otago.

MetService spokeswoman Jacqui Bridges said the service had already "identified some potential sites and will be starting discussions with landowners".

Councillor Wilson described the news as "thrilling", and council civil defence manager Neil Brown said the radar would provide a new tool during weather events.

Nine radars in New Zealand -- including three in the South Island -- allow the public to view the movement of rain bands and their intensity in the last hour.

The cost of a radar has been estimated about $3 million.

Otago has been covered in part by the two Southland radars but there have been calls since 2008 for the region to have its own.

Ms Bridges said because of the curvature of the earth, the beam from the two Southland radars did not get as close to the ground as the MetService would like.

The rain radar would also help improve the thunderstorm warning service in the region, she said.

Councillor Wilson said a radar would have helped the city's response to recent flooding by providing better information.

Farmers and contractors, when planning what they were doing, would also benefit from knowing exactly what rain was coming.

That meant an economic benefit.

Mr Brown said the confirmation of the new radar was "extremely good news".

In an intense, short event like the recent flooding, it was important to act quickly, and at present the only tool available was Otago Regional Council rainfall monitoring.

"It's about that higher level of certainty about what's coming and when."