4 ms·

I'm not Australian, and moved here a year ago, but the obsession with the BoM is... odd? As an outsider, I see a website that's a mess from the early 2000s, and

I'm not Australian, and moved here a year ago, but the obsession with the BoM is... odd? As an outsider, I see a website that's a mess from the early 2000s, and weather forecasts that just aren't very good (neither accurate nor detailed?). An event I was recently supposed to go to was called off because the BoM forecast rain all day 3 days out. Google Weather said it would be dry and sunny. It was dry and sunny. It's an anecdote not data, but so far I'm not understanding the national obsession based on this and a few other personal experiences.

layoric 1y ago
Obsession is a bit much, but one of the few genuinely "for the public good" institutions remaining. Others we have seen get hollowed out or replaced. A lot of hard work has and does go into providing the services that the BoM does. We are a big country with a small population, and they have been around for over 100 years which is a long time considering our federation was around the same time. I, and many other Australian's, like public institutions without a profit motive. Gutting these institutions usually ends up with worse privately operated ones.
- ggm 1y ago
  Looking at what is happening to NOAA it's a right wing reaction to climate science: because climate and weather are sister topics, they go after the agency on one political agenda, (climate) and the other side of the coin (weather) suffers. And, most of the opposition from communities like farming comes from the strong suspicion of being "told what to do" about climate and land management. It's a horrendous impedence mismatch. I did debate not directly putting right-wing into this, but my personal experience of speaking to people in the farming sector who are sharing hate on the BoM is that it's driven in right wing political agenda about "big government" and "world government" and "my tax dollars"
jamesfinlayson 1y ago
I remember talking with someone who worked in Antarctica and he said there was a wall somewhere in the station that displayed weather forecasts from a bunch of government run weather services from a bunch of different countries - Australia's was apparently frequently different to what everyone else was saying (they had some long-running nick-name for it which I no longer recall).
iamthemonster 1y ago
I'm also a blow-in but I've been in Australia 14 years. "The BoM" is a fascinating Australian cultural artefact and even in weather-obsessed Britain (where Michael Fish was a household name in a similar category to Hitler and Stalin) there was nothing similar. I think the parent comment goes some way to explaining something I find bizarre - the "extreme weather warnings" from the BoM, which they issue for every light breeze. I even have a fabric gazebo erected in my back yard, held down only by sandbags at the corners, and I don't have to disassemble it for every BoM "extreme weather warning" for wind/storms. There are so many "extreme weather warnings" for wind that they'd be meaningless for everyone who's not in a small boat.
- ggm 1y ago
  We loved Michael Fish. Nobody in my circuit mistook the Met Office for the NKVD. When he went off air, he had a fan club calling for his return.
  - iamthemonster 1y ago
    He came to talk at our school in the mid-90s and a journalist from the local rag was allowed to sit in the audience for some reason. The journalist asked about 1987 and Michael Fish visibly deflated and looked around the room with a look of "who let the journalist in" before finally inhaling and giving his speech about how technically he said the hurricane wouldn't hit us, he didn't say we wouldn't have a storm. But you're right, I think it was a sensationalist tabloid talking point to say "Michael Fish missed the hurricane" but he was a well loved weatherman.
    - ggm 1y ago
      I knew a few people in the UK astronomy community, and the Met office was a great place for them. Michael fish's multicolour knitted tank-tops sort of personified the home counties tolerance for minor departure from the norms. One of my astro chums at Bracknell rode a thumpingly noisy 4 stroke indian with a side-car, smoked hand-rolled menthol cigarettes and appeared to want to become Patrick Moore in size and demeanour. I like to think he fitted in well.
magarnicle 1y ago
I've stopped asking my Google Assistant if it will rain because it gets it wrong most of the time, at least for my location. I just look at the radar in the BoM app now (agreed that the website is terrible).

layoric 1y ago

Obsession is a bit much, but one of the few genuinely "for the public good" institutions remaining. Others we have seen get hollowed out or replaced. A lot of hard work has and does go into providing the services that the BoM does. We are a big country with a small population, and they have been around for over 100 years which is a long time considering our federation was around the same time. I, and many other Australian's, like public institutions without a profit motive. Gutting these institutions usually ends up with worse privately operated ones.

ggm 1y ago
Looking at what is happening to NOAA it's a right wing reaction to climate science: because climate and weather are sister topics, they go after the agency on one political agenda, (climate) and the other side of the coin (weather) suffers. And, most of the opposition from communities like farming comes from the strong suspicion of being "told what to do" about climate and land management. It's a horrendous impedence mismatch. I did debate not directly putting right-wing into this, but my personal experience of speaking to people in the farming sector who are sharing hate on the BoM is that it's driven in right wing political agenda about "big government" and "world government" and "my tax dollars"

jamesfinlayson 1y ago

I remember talking with someone who worked in Antarctica and he said there was a wall somewhere in the station that displayed weather forecasts from a bunch of government run weather services from a bunch of different countries - Australia's was apparently frequently different to what everyone else was saying (they had some long-running nick-name for it which I no longer recall).

iamthemonster 1y ago

I'm also a blow-in but I've been in Australia 14 years. "The BoM" is a fascinating Australian cultural artefact and even in weather-obsessed Britain (where Michael Fish was a household name in a similar category to Hitler and Stalin) there was nothing similar. I think the parent comment goes some way to explaining something I find bizarre - the "extreme weather warnings" from the BoM, which they issue for every light breeze. I even have a fabric gazebo erected in my back yard, held down only by sandbags at the corners, and I don't have to disassemble it for every BoM "extreme weather warning" for wind/storms. There are so many "extreme weather warnings" for wind that they'd be meaningless for everyone who's not in a small boat.

ggm 1y ago
We loved Michael Fish. Nobody in my circuit mistook the Met Office for the NKVD. When he went off air, he had a fan club calling for his return.
- iamthemonster 1y ago
  He came to talk at our school in the mid-90s and a journalist from the local rag was allowed to sit in the audience for some reason. The journalist asked about 1987 and Michael Fish visibly deflated and looked around the room with a look of "who let the journalist in" before finally inhaling and giving his speech about how technically he said the hurricane wouldn't hit us, he didn't say we wouldn't have a storm. But you're right, I think it was a sensationalist tabloid talking point to say "Michael Fish missed the hurricane" but he was a well loved weatherman.
  - ggm 1y ago
    I knew a few people in the UK astronomy community, and the Met office was a great place for them. Michael fish's multicolour knitted tank-tops sort of personified the home counties tolerance for minor departure from the norms. One of my astro chums at Bracknell rode a thumpingly noisy 4 stroke indian with a side-car, smoked hand-rolled menthol cigarettes and appeared to want to become Patrick Moore in size and demeanour. I like to think he fitted in well.

magarnicle 1y ago

I've stopped asking my Google Assistant if it will rain because it gets it wrong most of the time, at least for my location. I just look at the radar in the BoM app now (agreed that the website is terrible).