Mansfield installs weather station to bypass unreliable BOM forecasts

Australia Broadcast Center

4 days ago

A new weather station at Mansfield in north-east Victoria could close a critical forecasting gap, offering residents more accurate data for the first time.
Mansfield Shire Council Mayor Steve Rabie, who has lived in the region since 1983, said the council-operated station would provide an invaluable service to the community.
Mansfield's position in the foothills of the Victorian Alps and its proximity to the Great Dividing Range have made weather forecasting in the region a challenge.
Residents have had to rely on data from the Bureau of Meteorology's (BOM) closest station at the Eildon Fire Tower, about 28 kilometres away and at a significantly different altitude, making weather reports notoriously unreliable.
The gap was highlighted when a storm cell tore through the area in August last year, and the bureau had to rely on readings from the Eildon station and satellite imagery to confirm that the storm was, in fact, a tornado.
"Having our own dedicated station means our farmers, event organisers, sporting clubs, and residents can access real-time data and forecasts that are truly local," Cr Rabie said.
The new solar-powered station is equipped with sensors measuring wind direction and speed, rainfall, temperature, atmospheric pressure, humidity, and UV radiation.
To make the data publicly accessible, Mansfield Shire Council launched a local weather webpage providing real-time conditions, daily summaries and historical data.
It also offers eight-day forecasts, using an artificial intelligence system developed by meteorologist and TV weather presenter Jane Bunn.
Ms Bunn said the system used information from a variety of sources to provide more accurate forecasts.
"It's really important to make sure you are … not putting all your eggs in the one wet basket, so to speak," she said.
"By using AI, it enables us to do that in a much better way.
"Before … it took a long time to do, so much so that the forecasts, for example, that the bureau put out are already out of date before you receive them because it takes them so long to process that data.
"What we can do with machine learning and AI is speed up that process really considerably."
Mansfield Farmers' Market organiser Alli Walker welcomed the development.
Mansfield farmer Tony Tehan pushed to get a station set up in town for years and reached out to both the council and the BOM about it.
He said it had been very frustrating.
"I got sick of getting forecasts from Eildon, which is 20 or 30 kilometres away from Mansfield," Mr Tehan said.
He said more accurate weather data would help him plan when to spray crops and put down fertiliser.
"If it's too hot or too cold the sprays do not operate efficiently," Mr Tehan said.
"It's [also] good to know what the 24-hour rainfall is. It affects runoff into dams and all that sort of thing.
Despite the BOM being unable to integrate third-party stations into its network, Cr Rabie said the new local service would complement the broader-scale work of the bureau.
Mansfield is not the only regional community stepping up when official services fall short.
Independent, smaller weather stations are becoming a viable option for regional councils, filling gaps the BOM is unable to reach.
Last year, a resident in Gracetown, Western Australia, built a weather station to deliver more accurate reports tailored to the town.
A BOM spokesperson said the bureau could not comment on third-party services, but worked with all levels of government to provide weather advice "in the lead-up to or during severe weather".
"The bureau carefully considers the latest observations and model guidance to provide products and information that support the community to prepare and respond to hazardous weather events," the spokesperson said.
"Communities are advised to stay up to date with the bureau's forecasts and warnings via our website and the BOM Weather app and to always follow the advice of emergency services."