Jointly funded by the Met Office and the Environment Agency, this major infrastructure project will deliver high-resolution rainfall data for East Anglia, an area that has historically lacked the radar coverage seen in other parts of England.

The new radar will provide more detailed and reliable data on rainfall intensity and distribution, allowing meteorologists to better understand and predict the development and movement of storms. Located on an Anglian Water-owned site at Old Buckenham, construction is now underway, with the radar expected to be fully operational by early summer 2026.

Met Office Services Director, Simon Brown, said; “We are pleased to see construction start on this significant Met Office and the Environment Agency investment.

“While the radar will extend observational reach further east, its most important contribution lies in the improved rainfall detection, critical for forecast accuracy and storm tracking, as well as the management of flood risk.

“This radar will deliver benefits to local communities and business in terms of enhanced flood warnings and response to floods and better weather forecasts.”

Stefan Laeger, Flood Incident Management Service Manager at the Environment Agency, said: “Rainfall measurements are crucial for managing flood incidents and the new weather radar will provide much improved information for East Anglia and the East of England. This builds on the valuable data offered by the Environment Agency’s automatic rain gauges.

 “The radar will play a vital role in improving flood forecasting and enabling us to issue more timely and accurate flood warnings, helping to protect lives, property, and infrastructure.”

Research suggests that the improved accuracy of severe weather and flood warnings enabled by this radar could help avoid damages exceeding £1 million annually.

Henry Cator, Chairman of the Norfolk Strategic Flooding Alliance, said “The Norfolk Strategic Flooding Alliance welcomes the installation of this new weather radar in East Anglia—an excellent example of multi-agency collaboration, with the Met Office and Environment Agency constructing the radar on Anglian Water land.

“This development will enhance our preparedness for extreme weather events. The real-time data provided by the radar will significantly strengthen emergency response capabilities in the region, particularly in regard to rapidly developing conditions like the heavy showers and snowfall we saw during the ‘Beast from the East’ in 2018.”

Weather radars are essential tools for monitoring extreme rainfall, especially in a changing climate. Unlike rain gauges, which provide point-specific data, radars offer a comprehensive spatial view of rainfall, capturing the structure and movement of storms in real time. This includes storms moving inland from the sea, intense thunderstorms forming locally, or systems arriving from the continent.

The lack of radar coverage in East Anglia limits the precision of rainfall measurements in the region. The new radar will address this gap, enhancing the accuracy of storm tracking and rainfall estimation regardless of the storm’s origin—whether from the east, as with Storm Babet in October 2023, or from any other direction.