The BoM, which is visited by an average of 1.8 million Australians each day, launched a new website last month.
It prompted backlash from users who cited concerns with its new formatting and the radar’s functionality.
The national weather agency is still in the process of making changes to the website, with more updates to come.
Changes
The new BoM website launched at the end of October. It marked the first major update to the site since 2013.
The BoM said it conducted a 12-month testing period prior to the launch, which had positive feedback.
Despite this, users had issues with delayed radar updates, the new rain radar colour scheme, and not being able to enter GPS coordinates for regional properties.
The BoM restored the rain radar back to its original version following the backlash.
Update
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On Sunday, BoM CEO Dr Stuart Minchin – who started in the role this month – revealed the website revamp cost $96.5 million.
The BoM had previously said the new site cost $4.1 million. It now says that was just the amount “required to redesign the front-end of the website.”
Dr Minchin said the updated cost “reflects the significant investment required to fully rebuild” the website.
Changes are still being rolled out, but were delayed over the past week because of the NT’s Tropical Cyclone Fina.
Response
On Sunday, Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt said he “want[s] to see what the new CEO of the BOM has been able to establish as to the reasons for those cost increases”.
Nationals leader David Littleproud posted to social media on Sunday that “the sheer waste of money requires a review”.
Littleproud added: “The seriousness of this cannot be understated. This isn’t just a clunky website, the changes actually put lives and safety at risk.”
