BoM reveals plan to fix website within six months https://www.itnews.com.au/news/bom-reveals-plan-to-fix-website-within-six-months-623493
On Sat, 7 Feb 2026 at 14:36, John Smith <[email protected]> wrote: > 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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