Laurie i know you use BOM as well as NOAA & other sources (trees blowing in the wind) this thread is not directed at your excellent forecasting service i am just really disappointed in the new BOM forecasting service for WA which IMHO has regressed.

BOM were advertising an upgrade to their service which is the case for SA, VIC, TAS & NSW where they now get forecast explorer with 3 hour updates but here in WA we have gone from 4 updates per day with reasonably detailed forecasts to 2 per day with forecasts like this:

"Tuesday 8 January
Winds East to northeasterly 10 to 15 knots shifting southwesterly 15 to 20 knots in the late afternoon. Seas Around 1 to 1.5 metres. Swell West to southwesterly 1 to 1.5 metres. Weather Isolated thunderstorms until evening"

That tells me a bit but really how can you use that info to plan for marine related work or pleasure????

Hopefully someone at WA Bom or Laurie can shed some light on the matter.

Apparently the forecast explorer service is state government funded so whilst our government spends big in some areas its cutting back & denying us & more importantly those who need accurate forecasts for their work the service we need!!!

Thanks

Gotta say you are correct Weta.

Have noticed quite regularly BOM indicate a 10 knot wind range in their forecasts - "southerly winds 15 to 25 knots"

As a long time user of BOM forecasts I have noticed that they are now more general in nature and as you pointed out are updated less frequently.

Previously they were very specific and in most cases accurate.

agreed, the weather is almost a day behind, and the forecast is less accurate. I wonder if its the cumulative effect of the loss of daylight savings?

I reckon the computer model gives a better picture than absolute forecasts. Ground-truth it yourself over a few days and you can use it to get a fairly accurate idea of how the day will pan out.
www.bom.gov.au/marine/wind.shtml

And these give a good idea of what's coming further out
metvuw.com/forecast/forecast.php?type=rain®ion=waussie&noofdays=7
metvuw.com/forecast/forecast.php?type=rain®ion=world&noofdays=7

The guys & gals at the BoM are excellent people, and when I hand over my tax, I hope it goes to them.

They are also excellent on their "customer" support.. perhaps you've probably already written to them, but if not, a friendly enquiry to this link will do the trick...

www.bom.gov.au/other/feedback/

Select to expand quote

laurie said...
The guys & gals at the BoM are excellent people, and when I hand over my tax, I hope it goes to them.

They are also excellent on their "customer" support.. perhaps you've probably already written to them, but if not, a friendly enquiry to this link will do the trick...

www.bom.gov.au/other/feedback/

Smooth..... real smooth.....

half the problem could be the industries that need accurate forecasts are paying for the extra service. I am pretty sure bom just put out a strong sw forecast once summer starts then change it for winter for the general public.

This is a screenshot of the forecast explorer available over east that has 3 hourly updates.

Checked on BoM's site and WA is getting it this year. How are those using it over east finding the new service???