Moves to improve local disaster forecasts

A new Bureau of Meteorology supercomputer is expected to finetune projections and forecasts of extreme weather events at local levels.

The federal government's response to a Senate inquiry into disaster preparedness has backed a recommendation to improve early warning systems.

The bureau received money in the May budget to replace its existing supercomputer next year with a new model that will improve forecast locations, timing of thunderstorms, wind changes in bushfires, rainfall intensity during floods and more accurate cyclone data.