Emergency services, industry stakeholders and politicians on lower Eyre Peninsula are calling for a weather doppler radar for the region, after a significant gap was identified in the Bureau of Meteorology's network.
Currently the Eyre Peninsula's weather is forecast by a combination of information from Adelaide and Ceduna-based radars.
With the local fishing fleet being the biggest in the southern hemisphere and more than 3,000,000 hectares of land cropped for grain, locals are claiming it is almost impossible to get accurate weather forecasts in the region.
Former SA Police superintendent and current Mayor of Port Lincoln Brad Flaherty said while leading the local zone emergency committee during fires that threatened both lives and property CFS members had to resort to calling fisherman out on boats for accurate incoming weather updates.
"We had significant bushfires in 2009 and two large fires coming through from the western edges of Port Lincoln," Mr Flaherty said.
"The only way we could determine when the change in wind was going to come through was by one of the CFS guys ringing a mate who happened to be fishing on the Great Australian Bight.
"Relying on a mate on a fishing boat in the Bight is not a good way of going."
Mr Flaherty said radar coverage was good in a zone around 200 kilometres from the existing radar sites. But with Eyre Peninsula 270 kilometres from the closest doppler radar at Buckland Park, the remote region was receiving skewed readings.
Emergency workers call for more accurate forecasting
CFS Regional Commander for the Eyre Peninsula region Gavin Wornes said the CFS was only allowed to base its decisions on information sourced from official Bureau of Meteorology data. But on a catastrophic fire day, to know when wind changes were coming, it could help save lives.
"We know we've got a gap here, and I think the Bureau is aware it has a gap too," Mr Wornes said.
Mr Flaherty, a business consultant, recently wrote a proposal for an $8 million radar on Eyre Peninsula.
He said successful installations of doppler radars in Western Australia, funded by their State Government, showed the benefits of accurate weather reports for industries that were heavily reliant on good weather.
Mr Flaherty said the Eyre Peninsula's fishing and agricultural industry and its growing renewable energy sector would particularly benefit from accurate weather predictions.
"We're the only populated area that has significant agriculture and primary industries," he said.
"We've got the largest fishing fleet in the southern hemisphere, and we don't have any radar coverage."
Who will pay?
Bureau of Meteorology doppler radars are currently funded by the Federal Government but, like Western Australia, State Governments have invested in doppler radar technology.
Mr Flaherty said local industry stakeholders could invest in a portion of the project and hoped the State Government would match their input before approaching the Federal Government.
