About favourite locations
Your first favourite town or city automatically becomes your homepage, so you see it whenever you visit bom.gov.au.
Add as many favourites as you want. You can also add weather stations, districts, states and territories as a favourite. These do not change your homepage – you will continue to see the capital city overview.
When you add more favourites, they are listed on your homepage under a Favourite locations heading.
In Manage favourite locations, you can:
- change your homepage to another favourite town or city, or switch back to the capital city overview
- choose whether to see the rain radar all the time, or only when rain is forecast.
Find out what to do if favourites are not saving.
Add your first favourite
From any page:
- Click or tap the star icon at the top right of your screen.
- Search for a town or city you want to favourite. This will present a list of matching locations.
- Select the location from the list. It saves as your first favourite location and becomes your homepage, so you see it when you next visit bom.gov.au.
From the homepage
You can:
- use the star icon (see From any page above), or
- click or tap Select your favourite locations to show on this page, below the capital cities weather information.
From a location page
Select the Favourite location star right of the location name. The star changes from an outline to solid, and a banner confirms your favourite is saved.
Add more favourites
You can add as many favourites as you want. This can include towns, cities, weather stations districts, states and territories. When you add more favourite locations:
- they are listed your homepage, under a 'Favourite locations' heading
- favourite towns and cities are available in a dropdown list on the Rain radar and weather maps page.
To add more favourites:
- Search for the location.
- Open the location page from the search results.
- Select the Favourite location star right of the location name. The star changes from an outline to solid, and a banner confirms your favourite is saved. From the banner, you can access Manage locations to remove locations and customise your homepage.
Manage favourites and customise homepage
Managing favourite locations
On the Manage favourite locations page, you can:
- remove favourite locations – select Remove next to the location name
- change your homepage.
To access the page:
- From anywhere on the website, select the star icon at the top right of your screen. Follow the Manage favourite locations link below the list of locations.
- From your homepage, select the Manage favourite locations link below your list of favourite locations.
Change location shown on homepage
- On the Manage favourite locations page, scroll to Homepage options
- Use the dropdown menu to select the favourite town or city you want to see on your homepage. States, territories, districts and weather stations cannot be used for your homepage.
- Close the page. Your selection saves automatically.
Show capital city overview on homepage
The capital city overview is the standard homepage for this website. It is automatically replaced by your first favourite town or city. To switch back to the capital city overview:
- On the Manage favourite locations page, scroll to Homepage options
- Use the dropdown menu to select Capital city overview.
- Close the page. Your selection saves automatically.
Change rain radar map on homepage
When a favourite is your homepage, the rain radar map only appears when rain is forecast for that location. You can change this so the rain radar map always appears.
- On the Manage favourite locations page, scroll to Homepage options
- Use the dropdown menu to select Always show rain radar.
- Close the page. Your selection saves automatically.
Remove favourites
There are several ways to remove favourites.
From a location page
Click or tap the Favourite location star to the right of the location name (the page title). The star changes from solid to an outline, and a banner at the top of the page confirms the location is removed from your favourites.
From any page:
- Select the star icon at the top right of your screen.
- Select Manage favourite locations to open the Manage favourite locations page.
- Select Remove next to the location you want to remove.
Clear cookies
Clear cookies in your browser to remove all customised settings.
Favourite locations not saving
To save your favourite locations, we use cookies and local storage on your device. This means your device holds your list of favourites.
If your favourite locations are not saving, you may need to change your browser’s site data or cookie settings.
This is typically found in the browser's privacy or cookies and site permissions. If you are using a work device this setting might be managed by your organisation.
Change site data or cookie settings
For Chrome:
- Go to Settings > Privacy and security > Site settings > Additional content settings > On-device site data.
- Under Default behaviour choose Allow sites to save data on your device.
For Edge:
- Go to Settings > Privacy, search and services.
- Under Clear browsing data select Choose what to clear every time you close the browser.
- Select Cookies and other site data.
- Next to Don’t clear, select Add, then add www.bom.gov.au.
Use current location
You can select Use my current location across the website, including from the homepage and when using search.
When you select Use my current location, the website estimates your location. It uses data from several sources, including:
- global positioning system (GPS)
- nearby wi-fi networks
- your internet protocol (IP) address.
If you see the wrong location, check:
- your device settings, opt-in selections and browser permissions
- network connection
- corporate network settings if accessing through work.
Other factors in wrong locations include:
- satellite communications and GPS services
- the amount of location data provided by your device.
Current location blocked
Some organisations block access to using current location at work. If your current location is blocked, check:
- your device settings, opt-in selections and browser permissions
- network connection
- corporate network settings if accessing through work.