The Bureau's online MetEye tool helps you visualise local weather observations and forecasts for any location in Australia. The forecasts use a blend of model data with the latest science, technology and expert meteorologist input to best represent expected weather and are routinely updated twice a day.

Watch our introductory MetEye video and MetEye for boating video.

The Interactive Map Viewer presents computer model data from the Australian model suite (ACCESS). The data in MetEye has been constructed from a blend of Australian and international models using the latest science, technology and expert meteorologist input aimed at better representing your local weather.

Gridded data simply refers to the maps of information. Much like a print image can be composed of dots the maps are created from dots of weather data arranged in a grid. The grid of weather information is available every 3 or 6km depending on the size of the state. Smaller states have the 3km grid and larger states have a 6km grid.

Please refer to the User Guide for the Australian Digital Forecast Database (ADFD).

The forecasts have been constructed for each state and territory from a blend of Australian and international models using the latest science, technology and expert meteorologist input aimed at better representing your local weather. The forecasts are collected centrally in the Australian Digital Forecast Database (ADFD) which is a database of official weather forecast elements, such as temperature, rainfall and weather types.

Yes, Metadata is available for the data used. Please refer to the Metadata link at the base of the page for more information.

The non-Bureau map layers (roads, rivers etc.) are sourced from a number of agencies:

• Geoscience Australia layers are Geodata 2.5 M 2003 (roads), Geodata Topo 250K 2006 (rivers and lakes), Geodata Coast 100K 2004 (coastline) and River Basins 1997 (catchments).
• The country borders are from ESRI Data and Maps dataset 2008 and Vector Map Level 0.
• General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO_08 Grid, version 20090202, www.gebco.net) is the source of the elevation/bathymetry data.

These layers are for reference only and should not be used for navigation.

The forecast maps represented are created using sophisticated tools which blend model data and adjust for local effects and enable meteorologists to make further adjustments with editing tools. The information is routinely created twice per day during the early morning and late afternoon. See the MetEye disclaimer for further information.

The Bureau of Meteorology uses the Australian Digital Forecast Database (ADFD) to produce text forecasts and some warnings routinely twice per day. Between times the ADFD may be updated to produce new text forecasts and warnings but these may not be reflected on MetEye.

Official warnings are accessible via http://www.bom.gov.au/australia/

Information on our forecast accuracy is published on the Bureau's web site at http://www.bom.gov.au/inside/forecast-accuracy.shtml

As the forecasts for each state and territory are prepared separately, some inconsistencies may appear at the borders. The Bureau will endeavour to minimise discrepancies across state borders where possible. Since the maps are colour coded a different colour may look like quite a different forecast. In most cases it is likely that the different colour indicates only slightly different weather. For instance; if the forecast temperature on the eastern border of South Australia is between 30-33C it is depicted in yellow but if the Victorian forecast is between 27-30C it is depicted in green. This is a striking difference to look at but there may be little actual difference across the border.

MetEye displays many different weather forecast parameters. These are spilt into 6 main categories with additional data available in each category. These are detailed below;

• Rainfall: Daily Chance of rain and daily amounts. 3-hourly chance and 3-hourly amounts
• Temperature: Air Temperature, Daily Maximum, Overnight Minimum, Feels Like (this is the Apparent Temperature)
• Significant Weather; Thunderstorm, Snow, Rain, Fog, Frost.
• Humidity: Relative humidity, Dew point temperature, Forest fuel drought factor
• Wind: Speed and direction (km/h), Speed and direction (knots), Mixing Height
• Waves: Total wave height, Swell1 height and direction, Swell2 height and direction, Wind wave height

The types of forecast data available are dependent on the grids available in the Australian Digital Forecast Database (ADFD) which is detailed in the user guide.

MetEye displays forecasts for 1 to 7 days ahead. The Bureau of Meteorology currently limits day to day forecasts to this period as current useful forecast accuracy is limited to this period.

The Help page details how to Loop and navigate through time steps and loop the through maps seven days ahead.

For some forecast data there is only one value per day (daily rainfall and min/max temperatures). For others 3 hourly forecast details are displayed for most forecast days, though 6 hourly forecasts are displayed for the longer range predictions.

The forecasts are routinely issued twice a day each morning and afternoon and new maps will be posted to MetEye at these times. The data itself may be updated at other times and used to generate updated text forecasts. However, be aware that the maps may not be updated at all or may take some time to update MetEye maps.

The base data used to create the MetEye maps can be accessed for a fee. See details about the Australian Digital Forecast Database.(www.bom.gov.au/weather-services/about/forecasts/australian-digital-forecast-database.shtml) .

UTC is an international 24 hour time and date standard (Coordinated Universal Time), which is the same as GMT (Greenwich Mean Time). It is also known as Zulu time, denoted by Z.

The Bureau welcomes all feedback on its services via the Feedback form.

Some layers will only be visible at certain scales. For example, some Place names will not be displayed at a national scale, but will be displayed when you zoom in further, the Cloud from Satellite image is only available at certain zoom scales. Also when showing Latest Rain Radar on top of Forecast information, the Radar layer is only available for the first time step as it is an observation now and can not be shown with forecasts.

Within the table which appears when you click on the map or click on one of the red Forecast Locations, a wind forecast will be shown if you click on the Detail button. Under this detailed view, it is possible to choose either knots or km/h for the wind forecast. Otherwise the units are set to metric and not changeable.

As a user zooms in with MetEye to display greater geographic detail the radar imagery will become more pixelated. This is because the spatial detail of the other data sets is far greater than the native resolution of the overlayed radar imagery.

Your browser may be set to reject cookies and as such saving the MetEye location makers will not be possible unless you choose to change these settings. Cookies are nothing more than tiny bits of text stored on your computer by your web browser and are specific to a browser. They server many functions however the MetEye cookies save your user specified saved location markers. Some web browsers can support up to 300 cookies, depending on their size of each cookie.

MetEye will display all active cyclone tracks issued by the Bureau in its area of geographic responsibility. The menu and associated legend will only appear as a selectable item in MetEye when a tropical cyclone is active in the Australian region of responsibility.

The Tropical Cyclone track information in MetEye contains the tropical low or tropical cyclone's:

• Direction of movement (shown by the arrows)
• The cyclone name, current intensity and position (in blue text)
• Past track and intensity
• Forecast track to 72 hours and the associated uncertainty zone (shaded grey within dark solid lines)
• Extended forecast track to 120 hours and the associated uncertainty zone (shaded lighter grey within dashed lines)
• Date and time (in Zulu time (denoted by Z), which is the same as Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The Local Time would be: WST=UTC+8h, CST=UTC+9.5h, EST=UTC+10h)
• Watch and warning zones for land areas

The tropical cyclone track information in MetEye is consistent with the tropical cyclone information contained in the Tropical Cyclone Forecast Track Map and the Tropical Cyclone Technical Bulletin.

MetEye's pan and zoom feature allows the tropical cyclone forecast information to 120 hours be displayed in a graphical form, as opposed to the Tropical Cyclone Forecast Track Map, which is often zoomed in to show more details, such as locations in the Watch and Warning zones. For further information on tropical cyclones, visit Tropical Cyclone FAQ.

These text views are a type of local weather dashboard which provide an alternative views of many of the data sets displayed in the map in MetEye. This view of the graphical information attempts to meet the government?s inclusive practice of making websites usable by all people. The text views of the map data has been developed to meet Commonwealth Accessibility guidelines as the Australian Federal Government requires agencies to implement new accessibility standards on all government websites.

These text views are a type of local weather dashboard which provide an alternative views of many of the data sets displayed in the map in MetEye. This view of the graphical information attempts to meet the government?s inclusive practice of making websites usable by all people. The text views of the map data has been developed to meet Commonwealth Accessibility guidelines as the Australian Federal Government requires agencies to implement new accessibility standards on all government websites.

The text views which are available via MetEye provide the following data elements in a tabular format:

• A national landing page with capital city forecast and observational data.
• State and territory based landing pages proving an overview summary of major cities within a state.
• A location based observational summary based on the nearest automatic weather station.
• A location based forecast summary based on the gridded data sets in MetEye.
• The appropriate city, own, district or coastal waters forecast based on the location that has been chosen.
• A static radar overview which links to the current text based satellite note.
• A static location map that provides linkages to the nearest Bureau radars.

MetEye and the text views have not been specifically designed or optimised for the array of web browsers on mobile platforms.

Mobile browsing generally demands a different method of map navigation and no guarantees can be offered. Please ensure that JavaScript is enabled in the browser if you want use this service on a mobile platform.

MetEye allows some data types to be overlaid on top of each other, but there are some restrictions on the amount of data that can be shown at once. The restrictions should ensure maps are readable and understandable.

The forecast layers which appear on the map are for the most part continuous grids covering all points in the map area with solid colours, so there is no way to show two layers as one would cover the other fully.

In MetEye, location search information is derived from several databases, ranging from country-level to state, city and postcode level - each with varying degrees of accuracy (generally higher at the country level).

Postcodes are usually not unique to a forecast grid "cell" in MetEye, so after searching for a specific location you may find that the place name displayed - for instance in the popup window's title - is not exactly what you expected. The location returned should be close to the location you searched for however. The "Saved Location" marker label is centred in the postcode's forecast grid cell.

Also, you should be aware that in some geographical areas extra data has been added to the database, supplementing postcode information.

The "Find Me" button does a location search based on GPS or the address database (GeoIP) and can sometimes return the location of the Internet Provider used rather than your location.

Due to the nature of geo-location technology (and other factors beyond our control), the Bureau of Meteorology cannot guarantee a specific level of accuracy when location based searches are initiated in MetEye.

GeoIP databases will in most cases correctly identify locations at the level of accuracy indicated for Australia at http://www.maxmind.com/en/city_accuracy.

For mobile devices, the location accuracy depends on the data source used by your device.

• GPS accuracy can be down to several metres depending on your GPS signal and connection. Your device must support GPS and it must be enabled. You must allow MetEye access to GPS and to use your location.
• WiFi (wireless network) accuracy should be similar to the access range of a typical WiFi router - about 200m or better. Your device must support WiFi and it must enabled.
• Cell ID (mobile phone tower) accuracy depends on mobile phone tower density and available data in Google's Cell ID (cell tower) location database. Accuracy may be approximated at distances up to several thousand metres. Note: Some devices do not support cell ID location.

Tip: on some devices you can improve location accuracy by turning on WiFi (wireless network), especially when indoors where the GPS signal is weak.