Tamworth weather station requiring repair of faulty parts

Following questions asked by The Leader, the BoM confirmed on Monday night that at least two minimum-temperature readings over the last month had been off.

It was now in the process of investigating the cause of those issues, as well as checking whether any other mistakes had been made.

In a written statement, released on Wednesday night, BoM chief data officer Dr Anthony Rea said that “technicians are on site today (18 July) to investigate the issue and make any necessary repairs.”

“The Bureau of Meteorology holds the integrity of our weather observations and climate data to the highest possible standards,” he said.

“This data quality control process includes both automated and manual checking of data. The need for manual checking means that in some instances, there may be a delay of several days before any anomalous results are rectified.

This process recently identified such readings in Tamworth. Following this process, the Bureau removed the erroneous temperature readings from its website.”

While the errors were pointed out to the BoM the first time it was picked up on June 15 by Tamworth Region Weather’s David Farrenden, no action was taken until the second known erroneous recording was pointed out on Monday, one month later.

Meanwhile, the BoM was unable to confirm exactly what the issue was with the weather station, although did say that parts had been ordered and that the repairs were expected to be completed next week.

The BoM has a network of almost 700 automatic weather stations across the country, taking 2.5 million temperature readings a day.

In recent years BoM offices and staff were centralised in Sydney and Melbourne, leaving regions like the North West and New England fully automated.

The letter can be attributed to Bureau of Meteorology chief data officer Dr Anthony Rea.

The Bureau of Meteorology holds the integrity of our weather observations and climate data to the highest possible standards.

Across Australia, the Bureau's network of almost 700 automatic weather stations take about 2.5 million surface air temperature readings every single day. These stations operate at 99 per cent reliability.

Like any piece of equipment, on rare occasions these stations can develop issues which is why the Bureau has rigorous data quality assurance systems to identify issues and ensure the data is treated appropriately.

This data quality control process includes both automated and manual checking of data. The need for manual checking means that in some instances, there may be a delay of several days before any anomalous results are rectified.

This process recently identified such readings in Tamworth. Following this process, the Bureau removed the erroneous temperature readings from its website.

Our technicians are on site today (18 July) to investigate the issue and make any necessary repairs.  Parts have been ordered with repairs expected to be completed next week.

I can assure the community that they can have full confidence in the Bureau's services and data, as well as our fundamental commitment to continuous improvement.

World leading independent experts in measurement and data science recently conducted a review into the Bureau's automatic weather stations.

The review found the Bureau's equipment, verification process, quality checks, and processes for finding and acting on equipment failure were sound.