Major upgrades completed on Bay of Plenty and Mahia weather radars

At the end of May, our Met Data Services (MDS) team successfully completed major mid-life upgrades to the Bay of Plenty and Mahia weather radars, delivering a significant refresh of the signal-processing systems at both sites.

The work was carried out sequentially, with each radar taken offline for a few days during its integration and commissioning window to allow for full system validation and baseline calibration.

Following installation, our radar engineers conducted post‑upgrade performance verification, including rainfall‑based calibration checks and fine‑tuning of signal‑processing parameters. This optimisation work is ongoing, with the objective of producing even higher quality weather data by using the most modern signal-processing techniques.

These two radars are part of New Zealand's nationwide network of 10 weather radars, stretching from Kaeo to Invercargill. The network plays a vital role in monitoring rainfall, hail, and snowfall, and provides critical information during severe weather events.

The upgrades included new radar receivers, modernised signal-processing servers, updated operating systems, and enhanced system software improving both performance and resilience.