The council currently owns and maintains the Warracknabeal Automated Weather Station, AWS, one of two in the municipality, under a 10-year service agreement with the Bureau of Meteorology.
Council Mayor Kylie Zanker said most weather stations across Australia were managed entirely by the bureau, but the council was responsible for all AWS servicing and maintenance costs.
“Our weather station has provided vital, real-time data to the region since 1969, supporting not only local needs but also feeding into global and regional weather monitoring,” she said.
“The importance of this data cannot be overstated, especially during high-risk events such as the Little Desert National Park fire earlier this year.”
However, Cr Zanker said the financial burden had grown unsustainable for the council.
“The annual servicing fee for the AWS is set to rise dramatically under a new three-year agreement – from $12,700 to $27,959 in the first year and approaching $30,000 within three years – despite servicing intervals being reduced to one service per annum.This increase is quite substantial,” Cr Zanker said.
“Providing meteorological data is not a core local government function, yet the cost of maintaining this infrastructure has become increasingly unsustainable.”
Cr Zanker said without external financial support, the council would be unable to maintain the AWS to the required standard, leading to its proposed decommissioning on October 31.
“Losing this facility would be a significant setback for our community,” she said.
“We have written to federal and state ministers, as well as the Victorian Emergency Management Commissioner, seeking their urgent assistance to ensure the station remains in service.”
The council is urging all levels of government to recognise the indispensable value of the Warracknabeal AWS and to work together to secure its future for the benefit of all who rely on its data.
The AWS is part of an infrastructure system, taking observations for the widely-used Bureau of Meteorology, with stations located within about 50 kilometres of each other.
A bureau spokesperson said the bureau’s weather forecast and weather warning service had been designed to be comprehensive, resilient and not dependent on any one piece of equipment.
“In the Warracknabeal area, surrounding AWS observation points include Longerenong, approximately 40 kilometres to the south; Horsham Aerodrome about 45 kilometres to the southwest; Nhill Aerodrome, about 69 kilometres to the west; Charlton about 82 kilometres to the east; and Hopetoun Airport, about 67 kilometres to the north,” they said.
“And the Rainbow radar is about 50 kilometres northwest of Warracknabeal and provides coverage of the area.”
The spokesperson said the bureau’s weather forecasts and warnings for all regions were based on a combination of many different observing and prediction systems. “These include weather stations, satellites, radars and rain gauges and numerical weather prediction models,” they said.
“These systems provide a comprehensive dataset that ultimately enables communities to effectively plan for and respond to weather events.
“This is why people can find an accurate update of the current and forecast weather for any location, in the BOM Weather app.
“In emergency situations, we encourage the community to stay up to date with the bureau’s forecasts and warnings.
“The community can also access warnings via the bureau’s website and BOM Weather app.”
People can find data provided by Warracknabeal’s AWS on www.bom.gov.au as Latest Weather Observations Warracknabeal Airport and Warracknabeal Airport, Vic – Daily Weather Observations.
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