BOM radio weather reports end as last staffed regional WA station prepares for automation – ABC News

Weather crosses with local Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) staff on ABC Radioin regional WA have come to an endahead of station automation later this year.

Weather observers Daniel Hayes and David Murray will complete the program of de-staffing regional offices first announced in 2015when they are redeployed from Broome to capital cities at the end of the year.

"They're moving things like the radio crosses away while they can and I guess we're still here, maybe, as a bit of a fallback for a little while," Mr Hayes said.

The final weather read this week ends 31 years of BOM staff delivering weather updates to Kimberley residents on ABC Radio.

Mr Hayes said it was a sad day in his 20-year career with the BOM.

"We've been privileged to be able to talk to the local media and get ourselves into the community in that way," he said.

"Apart from the five-minute commute, it's probably one of the things I'll miss most when we move to the capital cities."

ABC Kimberley: Ben Collins

One of the main aims of theBOM's 2015 strategic plan was to lower the cost of operations and review regional staff.

At the time it wassaid there were more than 30 employees in the 24 regional stations that would be de-staffed.

The maintenance of the automated regional stations and servicing the automatic weather balloon launchers is likely to be conducted by a mix of BOM staff flying into regional towns and locally employed contractors.

Staff will remain at the Learmonth Solar Observatory and the Giles Weather Station.

In a statement to the ABC, the BOM said advances in technology hadchanged the need to have people onsite all the time.

"The prime drive for these changes is delivering a better service to regional communities, where automation significantly increases the observations," the statement said.

"Tropical cyclone forecasts and warnings for Broome and surrounding areas will continue to come from the team of meteorologists in the Perth offices, as they have for many years."

WA LaborKimberley MP Divina D'Anna said the loss of jobs in the region was the Commonwealth's fault.

"I understand the federal government has been phasing BOM stations to automation over the years, resulting in jobs leaving the regions," she said in a statement.

"It is always a sad day when a job leaves the Kimberley."

The ABC contacted Melissa Price, the Federal Member for Durack, but had not received a response at the time of publishing.

ABC Kimberley: Ben Collins

Both Mr Hayes and Mr Murray have seen weather observations become progressively automated over their entire careers.

"Dave had been out at Halls Creek for seven years and I'd been down at Port Hedland for seven years," Mr Hayes said.

"Both of those stations have now been automated."

Mr Murray recalled superseded technology, including the Campbell-Stokes sunshine recorder, which used a glass sphere and cardboard.

"We would put the cardboard in this little slot and change it before sunriseand it scorches a little line," he said.

"We used to have to pull it out and count the number of hours the sun had been out for the day.

"Now there's an array of about 10 instruments out on a post that's actually taken over from that one manually read gauge."

Mr Murray said hewould miss being the local weather man in a small community most of all.

"It's one of the most amazing parts of the job actually being able to give feedback to the public," he said.

"Even when you walk down the street in a small town like Broome, you get asked what's happening."

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BOM radio weather reports end as last staffed regional WA station prepares for automation - ABC News