New Sydney (Terrey Hills) Radar

September 2009
The new Sydney radar was commissioned on 9 September 2009, see:

• Media Release
• Sydney (Terrey Hills) radar loop
• Radar Site Information

April 2009
The Bureau of Meteorology is putting the finishing touches on Sydney’s new Doppler radar with the public launch only a few months away following extensive calibration, testing and training.

The new radar is located at Terrey Hills in northern Sydney and will be the fifth of six new high resolution Doppler radars to come online as part of the Australian Government's $62.2 million dollar radar upgrade project. The new Doppler has twice the resolution of the existing Sydney radar at Appin and its Doppler capability allows the display of wind flows associated with weather systems as well as rainfall intensity. Once the radar is operational, both Doppler wind flow and rainfall intensity will be available on the Bureau's website.

Ongoing operational benefits will include:

• Improved short term forecasts and warnings of severe weather, including hail, damaging winds and tornadoes
• Improved radar-derived rainfall rates for use in flood warning applications
• Improved short term forecasts of rainfall
• Enhanced tracking of the movement and strength of wind changes such as southerly busters, cold fronts and sea breezes.

The series of photos below shows the radar at different stages of construction:

November 2008: The first 5m tower section in place.

November 2008: Second 10m section lowered into place.

Joining the two sections involved lining up the bolt holes. There are approximately 80 bolts, each 54mm in diameter.

Aligning the two sections before bolting them together.

Adding the final 'cone' section (7m). The tower height is now 22m to the top of the cone.

Skyline view from the top of the cone. The radar has an unobstructed view of the sky above above Sydney.

Lowering the 5 metre pedestal that allows the radar dish to rotate.

February 2009: Attaching the radar dish. The dish is 8m in diameter.

March 2009: The protective radome was installed by specialised riggers. Around 50 panels and about 5000 bolts were used. The height of the dome alone is roughly equivalent to a three storey building.

March 2009: The dome is completed.