Extract from the weather journal

Observing the weather

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Millions of weather observations are collected around the world every day. Most are gathered by officers of national meteorological services, but many are collected by part-time and volunteer observers.

The equipment used to measure the weather varies from simple thermometers and barometers to sophisticated radar and satellites. The Bureau of Meteorology in Australia operates 62 weather stations with its own staff, but also employs about 500 part-time observers. About 6000 volunteers record daily rainfall, about 2000 volunteers are storm spotters, and there are about 400 voluntary observing ships. There are also about 320 automatic weather stations.

The list of weather elements recorded by observers is extensive, but much can be learned from a basic set of observations using relatively inexpensive equipment.