The Bureau of Meteorology’s annual reports provide a definitive record of the activities
of Australia’s national weather service.
By comparing reports from years past, one can glean fascinating insights into how we’ve
changed the way we operate and how our services have increasingly enhanced the safety, sustainability,
well-being and prosperity of Australians.
The annual report for 2013–14 highlights our most recent achievements and the public
benefits that have resulted.
For some years, the Bureau’s web presence has been one of the most popular in Australia.
Over the last year we’ve worked hard to make it even more useful.
We’ve introduced more graphical products, provided more video content, and launched
a new mobile website.
And over the last year our Facebook audience grew strongly, rising to almost half a million
followers.
Our highest priority is always public safety.
Our frontline forecasters work hand in hand with emergency services.
Over the last year there were dozens of severe weather events that posed threats to the community.
For each and every event, our forecasters provided critical guidance, be it for heatwaves,
fires, cyclones, floods, gales or severe thunderstorms.
In addition, they issued thousands of warnings and forecasts to the aviation and marine industries
and the Australian Defence Force.
Key to our ability to issue accurate and timely forecasts and warnings is the Next Generation
Forecast and Warning System, also known as NexGen.
We’ve been rolling out NexGen around the nation for the last few years and have now
almost completed the project.
Last year we completed the Queensland stage of the rollout, providing a huge lift in the
amount and quality of weather information available for one of the most weather sensitive
states in Australia.
During the summer, we piloted a new national heatwave alert service.
This is aimed at helping the health, energy and transport sectors to become more climate-resilient,
as well as forewarning the general community.
We also trialled a thunderstorm tracker in southeast Queensland—one of Australia’s
hot spots for severe thunderstorms.
This new product shows the location of thunderstorm cells and the paths they are taking.
Updated every five minutes, it gives residents the best available information to protect
themselves and their property.
In March, we joined forces with CSIRO to publish the third biennial State of the Climate report.
The report includes an assessment of the long-term trends in Australia’s climate, explaining
how and why climate change is affecting our atmosphere and the oceans around us.
Underpinning most of the Bureau’s services is a large and complex observing system.
This includes weather stations, weather radars, wind profilers and ocean buoys.
We also receive real-time information from sensors on satellites and commercial aircraft.
Each year we need to replace some of this equipment, and the last year was particularly
busy.
Whilst the Bureau is best known for its weather and climate services, we also provide vital
information on our oceans, water resources and even space weather.
The annual report highlights the great breadth of information we disseminate to the public
and to particular industries that require it.
Though most of our activity is government-funded and aimed at the broad public good, we continue
to develop tailored services for particular clients such as the aviation, defence and
oil and gas sectors.
In the past year, the Bureau supplemented its government funding with over $77 million
in external revenue from such clients, enabling us to enhance our overall impact for the nation.
For more details on these and other accomplishments, you can find our annual report online.
[URL on screen: bom.is/annual-report]
You’ll see how the investment made in the Bureau provides immense value to Australia.
I’m really proud of what we have achieved over the last year and look forward to adding
even more value in the next.