South Australia's improving weather services

July 2012 update

In late July, the South Australian Regional Forecasting Centre will add a further 31 locations to its forecast suite. This is part of the planned expansion of the Next Generation Forecast and Warning System. Each location will have a short text forecast that includes a brief text description (up to 30 characters), weather icon code, and forecast maximum and minimum temperatures.

See Forecast Summary for South Australian Towns or 7-day Town Forecasts (via clickable map) for the full list of towns.

Upgrade details

Forecasts

• 28 locations in South Australia will get a 7-day forecast. This now includes a forecast for Glenelg. Mount Barker will now receive its own town forecast.
• District forecasts get a major upgrade and will contain far more information about rainfall, winds, fire danger and more. Instead of 6 combined district forecasts there will be 14 individual district forecasts. The smaller size will allow more detailed description of expected weather.
• The Adelaide metropolitan forecast will include a day-1 forecast of the probability of any measurable rain and a forecast of the likely rainfall range.
• The 7-day forecasts will be presented as a combination of text and graphics.

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Marine Services

• The number of coastal waters forecast zones will double to 10 smaller zones. The smaller zones will allow for a more detailed description of conditions. Coastal waters forecasts will be provided individually for each coastal zone, with an improved layout for easier reading.
• The Adelaide metropolitan waters forecast will provide 4 days of wind and wave information.
• Marine wind warnings will now be issued for today and tomorrow, and a warning label will be added to the forecast for those days. No separate warning will be issued.
• A new graphical forecast service will be available for Adelaide metropolitan waters, Goolwa and adjoining lakes. This will show winds and combined sea and swell.

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Agricultural Services

• 7-day forecasts will be provided for more rural locations.
• Forecasts will contain more detail about wind and rainfall, and overnight temperatures for 7 days will assist in frost mitigation.
• A new frost warning service will replace the existing frost risk service for the Mid North, Murraylands, Riverland, Mount Lofty Ranges and Lower South East. The service will provide warning of moderate or severe frost conditions for the overnight period.

Technical Information for Web Developers

Forecasts and warnings will be available in a number of formats including XML. See the Weather Data Services webpage for more.

Issue times of South Australian forecasts

Forecast Name	Issue Times
State Forecast	5:30am, 4:30pm
Coastal Waters Forecasts	5:10am, 3:50pm
Adelaide Metropolitan Waters Forecast	5:15am, 3:50pm
District Forecasts	5:40am, 4:25pm
Adelaide Metropolitan Forecast	5:20am, 4:10pm
Town Forecasts	5:30am, 4:15pm
Forecast Summaries for SA Cities and Towns	5:15am, 4:00pm
SA Fire Danger Ratings	7:00am, 4:05pm

Note that, if required, forecasts are updated between the standard issue times.