Bureau of Meteorology to support advertising

[Ray!]

Tuesday, 08/05/2012

The Bureau of Meteorology will accept advertising on its website, to help it fund better forecasting of floods, bushfires and cyclones.

The Federal Budget provides an extra $4.8 million next financial year to help the Bureau hire up to 20 expert meteorologists, and training another 10 meteorologists and 10 flood forecasters.

"The measures announced today will provide the Bureau with better access to the skills and expertise it needs to respond to extreme weather events."

"Revenue raised from the trial will contribute to the improvements in forecasting announced today."

http://www.abc.net.a...05/s3498398.htm

Thursday 19 March 2009

Two new supercomputers ordered today by the Bureau of Meteorology and The Australian National University (ANU) will deliver 12 times the power of previous models, ensuring Australia is at the forefront of international weather forecasting and climate modelling.

“Together the new supercomputers will provide the computer power needed to develop the Australian Community Climate and Earth System Simulator – a new project to tie together weather forecasting as well as climate and ocean forecasts.”

http://www.bom.gov.a.../20090319.shtml

Colour me cynical, but they could have taken a leaf out of the Cook Islands weather forecasting system:

http://www.cookislan...;s weather rock.jpg (for some stupid reason this image extension is not allowed)

Cheers

Ray

Edited May 15, 2012 by Ray!

[Glort]

I watch the weather forecasts closely so I can plan photoshoots.

The inaccuracy of the weather reports is frustrating in the extreme as is their ambiguity.

What really makes me wonder though is how the heck people get on that rely on these forecasts for their safety. Pilots and ships captains have a lot more at stake than I ever will yet they are relying on the same frequently flawed forecasts.

IF putting advertising on the site makes the forecasts more accurate, then all I can say is the gubbermint is gambling with peoples lives right now by knowingly not providing the most accurate info they know they can. I see the article mentions the ability to improve " climate Modeling"

Isn't this related to global warming?. If it is, shouldn't that be something the Carbon tax covers?

WE definately ought to have the best forecasting in the world pretty soon then.

[Ray!]

Accurate weather forecasting is so important, as pointed out, but what gets me is that despite the tax dollars spent on the BOM, and now they want advertising dollars, they can still barely get a forecast right one day in advance; yet they seem to agree that it's possible to forecast the climate 100 years in advance! So the new computers will deliver 12x the power of the previous models. What? Were the previous model's accuracy only 0.001% of reality? And I'm not sure why you need 10 (extra?) flood forecasters. If you're going to have heavy rains, you're likely to have floods. Can't the existing meteorologists figure that out?

Cheers

Ray

[twisty]

Well, I'm a farmer and I often check BOM radar and forecasts (not that it does any good, weather still happens). As for advertising it will be a one year trail with "strict guidelines". Do I care, not really. I think they've seen a business oportunity and are exploring. Isn't that what our capitalist system is all about?

Yeah ... you'd think with a new computer you could lay off a few staff and save a bit more caash. The science is in, don't build on flood plains.

[Glort]

A friend that also has a close interest in the weather and I have been ridiculeing the BOM for their entire summer forecast.

There was only one, " Chance of showers". Sometimes to make it look like they weren't all on holidays and had left and endless loop going, they would say " Possible showers" Chance of rain, Possible afternoon/ morning/ evening showers... etc.

As we see it, there's a chance or possibility our Lotto numbers will come up next week but neither of us are going to put a deposit on a new Rolls Royce on that foundation.

We don't want to know if it's possible it will rain, we take that as a given. What we want to know is IF it's going to rain. I dont need to know all the complications and carry on, it's bloody simple yes/No question..... Is it going to rain or not?

End of story.

Possible and chance of and all the rest is no good to me.

Like ray says, if they can't tell me with any certainty what tomorrow is going to be like, how the heck can they even kid themselves that they have any hope of telling me what's going to happen in 20 or 50 years.

Looking at the predictions from when all this Global scamming change started, that's now being shot down in flames already as the planet is getting cooler.

[twisty]

Yeah ... those bloody forecasters should get their act together. How dare they not get it right all the time. What a gall having a bit of each way. Perhaps they should invest in a weather string. Couldn't do any worse. Advertising revenue could be spent on a string for every Australian household. Then we can do our own forecasting.

And, it's not global warming, it's climate change. The scientists changed the name. Lucky the fork-asters were NOT involved. Might have been called "chance of climate change". Although that might please more people it still won't help with the photo shoots. sorry.

[dronus4x4]

The BOM website should take some formatting advice from the Godaddy website... I wouldn't notice the advertising then

[Nutta]

I think the weatherstone in the other thread told the story!

I stick my head out in the bloody morning and go from there, being a roofer/roof painter i need to know whats going on, and bom is useless!

[twisty]

Useless? One the top ten aussie sites visited. They must be doing something right!

[Enemy of Reality]

Useless? One the top ten aussie sites visited. They must be doing something right!

x2

[Glort]

Yeah ... those bloody forecasters should get their act together. How dare they not get it right all the time. What a gall having a bit of each way.

I'm not unrealistic, I don't expect the forecast to always be perfect, weather happens.

The problem is as my friend and I have noticed countless times, they get WRONG far more times than they get it Right!

And saying " chance of Rain" virtually every day for more than 4 months.... Come on, I could do the same with no training or facilities.

My friend says they are less accurate than a broken watch because even that is right twice a day,

The BOM can't make accurate concrete predictions twice a week.

As for doing something right, that's irrelevant. 3 of the top 10 australian sites are real estate so I'm not sure what a top 10 proves other than you are in a popular subject. The BOM have a monopoly on a market everyone has a vested interest in.

If I had the only porn site accessible from within Australia, I'd have the top Aussie site so how well you do something is irrelevant to the subject matter.