The Bureau of Meteorology has installed a new supercomputer to improve its weather forecasts.

Deputy Director of Information Systems and Services Lesley Seebeck says acquisition of the Cray supercomputer represents a major milestone.

“The increased computing power will allow the bureau to undertake a program of improvements to enhance the frequency, accuracy and certainty of forecasts in the coming years,” she said.

The bureau received funding in the 2014/15 budget to buy computer hardware and make software improvements to its Numerical Weather Prediction modelling and forecast products.

Cray technology is also used by leading weather services such as Deutscher Wetterdienst, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, MeteoSwiss and the Korea Meteorological Administration.

Forecasts should begin improving from January, the bureau says.