Forgot to bring up the UV forecasts BoM makes and they are usually too high and their UVI 3+ times usually start too early in the day and end too late in the evening. They seem to only use satellite readings rather than ground sensors and they have a disclaimer about cloud cover etc
I've come to realise that UVI isn't solely based on conditions on earth either, it's highly dependent on how active the sun is. This summer the maximum UVI recorded was "only" 11.7 and we've had lots of cloudless skies this year yet last summer it hit 13.1 in January but the all time record was 15.8 during 2017 when the sun was supposed to be heading toward the minimum activity period of it's cycle but there were several maximum severity flares released that thankfully didn't head in our direction. Both the highest maximum temperature I've recorded and the maximum recorded UVI happened on different days in February that year. I've sent emails to the BoM about this and had no reply so they don't seem that interested in fixing their forecasts which is disappointing and yet again another misleading thing on their website. I guess it'll only be downhill for their public facing website from here. On Wed, 4 Feb 2026 at 15:34, John Smith <[email protected]> wrote: > UK WOW is headed in the same direction that despite raving on about how > useful the data is from hobbyists they now only care about getting it from > station manufacturers which who knows how bad that may be when little > johnny puts up something haphazardly on the balcony of his inner city > apartment. > > On Wed, 4 Feb 2026, 13:46 Graham Eddy, <[email protected]> wrote: > >> i think BOM is providing dumbed-down interface for unsophisticated >> consumers. >> they have (expensive) products for commercial consumers. >> this begs the question: where are the data feeds for the middle ground >> e.g. citizen scientists like us? i suspect BOM’s disregard of amateur >> weather statios (unlike UK WOW) relates to their commercial focus >> (guaranteed, high quality data streams) >> *⊣GE⊢* >> >> On 4 Feb 2026, at 1:33 pm, Greg from Oz <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> Seems like the BOM is being run by people who nothing about the weather >> and the consequences of their decisions. >> >> >> On Wednesday, 4 February 2026 at 09:40:50 UTC+11 John Smith wrote: >> >>> More poor decisions that BoM made when they had the new website coded, >>> apart from rain being reported on the easy to access location pages as >>> midnight to midnight and only hourly now even though there is at least half >>> hourly records making rain rates misleading as well. >>> >>> For example in early January on the old site the rain rate over the >>> 30min period was at least 40.4mm/hr but because of the decision to report >>> hourly on the new site the rain rate using that was only 22.2mm/hr because >>> it all fell within 30 minutes. This can really matter during extreme rain >>> fall events to predict if there will be flooding before river gauges start >>> showing rising water levels. >>> >>> Now I've been informed that minimum "overnight" temperatures are taken >>> from 6 pm to 9 am so during summer the world seems like it's on fire >>> because at 7pm in the evening it can be still over 35C in many locations >>> such as yesterday which is totally misleading and confusing IMHO. >>> >>> Maximum temperatures are 6am to 9pm which may seem sane but again can be >>> misleading if it was warmer at midnight and a cool change has gone through. >>> >>> On Fri, 9 Jan 2026 at 20:41, John Smith <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>>> It's just the public/main website as best I can tell, historical data >>>> files still seem to be 9-9... >>>> >>>> On Fri, 9 Jan 2026 at 14:30, 'Cameron D' via weewx-user < >>>> [email protected]> wrote: >>>> >>>>> I have been downloading the station observation files since about >>>>> 2011, and there have been no changes since 2023. >>>>> Rain_trace is still cumulative, starting at 9:00 >>>>> >>>>> On Wednesday, 7 January 2026 at 4:28:10 pm UTC+10 John Smith wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> I've come across some more "interesting" design choices by the BoM >>>>>> for their new website. >>>>>> >>>>>> Firstly rain observations are now grouped by hour, rather than >>>>>> showing individual readings, which in most cases was every half hour. >>>>>> >>>>>> The new website no longer shows a running total for rain either, so >>>>>> you need to manually add up the hourly totals or check the high/low >>>>>> section >>>>>> for daily total (midnight to midnight of course)l. >>>>>> >>>>>> I was told in no uncertain terms that this is intentional and they >>>>>> won't be reverting to how the old site worked. >>>>>> >>>>>> Luckily for now the old site still functions the same as it did prior >>>>>> to the new site going live. >>>>>> >>>>>> Weatherzone seems to still operate in the same manner as well, so >>>>>> some choices for now. >>>>>> >>>>> >>>>> -- >>>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>>> Groups "weewx-user" group. >>>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>>>> an email to [email protected]. >>>>> To view this discussion visit >>>>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/weewx-user/e6122b29-7f99-4859-b798-2833609e6c2bn%40googlegroups.com >>>>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/weewx-user/e6122b29-7f99-4859-b798-2833609e6c2bn%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>>>> . >>>>> >>>> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "weewx-user" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To view this discussion visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/weewx-user/558e394e-4b41-4342-aad0-da76e4c84f6fn%40googlegroups.com >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/weewx-user/558e394e-4b41-4342-aad0-da76e4c84f6fn%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "weewx-user" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To view this discussion visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/weewx-user/E8667DE2-DEB6-4AD5-A6B0-28197662ECB3%40geddy.au >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/weewx-user/E8667DE2-DEB6-4AD5-A6B0-28197662ECB3%40geddy.au?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "weewx-user" group. 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