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WEATHER FORECASTING IMPROVES FOR QUEENSLAND MARINERS

THE HON SUSSAN LEY MP
MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

THE HON MICHELLE LANDRY MP
MEMBER FOR CAPRICORNIA

MEDIA RELEASE

The boating and fishing community along the Central Queensland coast will enjoy enhanced weather forecasting and greater reliability of information this holiday period thanks to one of the more challenging upgrades undertaken by the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM).

A remote automatic weather station perched on steep rocky terrain on Rundle Island (between Gladstone and Rockhampton) has been fully refurbished and is now safely accessible via a new walkway, stairway and platform thanks to a two-month operation requiring helicopters, boats and safety line access.

Rundle Island’s station collects critical wind, barometric pressure and temperature data for the area and has previously been inaccessible by land, making maintenance during unplanned outages a major challenge, particularly during severe weather events.

Minister for the Environment Sussan Ley said that the work reflects an ongoing commitment from the Morrison Government to ensure that people are receiving the best possible weather information.

‘The BOM has a vast information gathering network, from radars to automatic weather stations like Rundle Island, and it is backed by one of the world’s leading meteorological science teams,” Minister Ley said.

“The remote nature of Rundle underlines the lengths that the team goes to ensure these systems can be fully maintained, and upgraded as necessary to ensure greater safety and reliability and the new access platform ensures it can be accessed by land for the first time.”

Member for Capricornia Michelle Landry said that with the busy Gladstone Port and some of the country’s major reef systems nearby, this particular stretch of coast sees many boaters and anglers pass through daily.

‘Anyone who has sailed these waters knows it is prone to some interesting sea breezes. Keeping our waterways safe is critical,” Ms Landry said.

‘By ensuring that technology is both upgraded and for the first time readily accessible, we will ensure a more reliable forecast service for Queenslanders.”

Data from the Rundle Island automatic weather station can be found here and time lapse footage of the work can be accessed here.

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