BoM Weather App to become Somerset’s primary weather warning service

Published on 22 May 2026

	Somerset Regional Council encourages residents to download the Bureau of Meteorology Weather App

SOMERSET Regional Council is encouraging residents to download the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) Weather App and subscribe to its new national warning service as the region’s primary source of weather alerts.

Council will discontinue its subscription to the Early Warning Network (EWN) on 31 August 2026.

Somerset Mayor Jason Wendt said BoM offered the same, and in many cases superior, capabilities to the EWN.

“Our Council adopted the EWN following the Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry in 2012 to address gaps in national warning systems, but since then the BoM has upgraded its services,” Cr Wendt said.

“BoM now provides real-time, location-based push notifications through its new app and website, following national investments into emergency alerts, radar, and mobile coverage.

“The BoM’s service is completely free, whereas EWN comes at an ongoing cost to Council and therefore the ratepayer.

“The EWN relies on BoM’s own data, and the service now duplicates many of BoM’s existing warning systems.”

Cr Wendt encouraged the community to engage with the Bureau of Meteorology’s platform.

“The BoM Weather App lets you to set up push notifications for your smartphone so you can make safe decisions when the weather changes,” Cr Wendt said.

“You can set up to three locations, and you’ll receive alerts about tropical cyclones, fires, floods, severe thunderstorms and weather.”

For more information and to learn how to set up alerts visit somerset.qld.gov.au/EWN-discontinuation

Download the BoM Weather App through the App Store (Apple devices), Play Store (Android devices) or visit bom.gov.au/bom-weather-app