Weather Services is one of the Bureau's eight major outputs and contributes towards Output 1.3 - Meteorological and Related Services. Outputs from Weather Services typically include information on current and forecast weather conditions for States, districts, cities and towns for dissemination through the mass media and use by the community at large; public warnings of severe weather events and major user-sector specific forecasts, warnings and information, tailored to meet the sectoral needs of the marine, agricultural, aviation and defence communities; and specialised weather information, forecast and warning services, provided on a cost-recovery or commercial basis, to meet the specific requirements of individual customers and user groups.

OUTPUT PERFORMANCE 2003-04 

After very dry conditions in 2002-03, during which a record number of fire weather warnings were issued, 2003-04 saw a return to more normal conditions with good rains in some areas. As a consequence of these rains, the number of flood warnings issued during 2003-04 was three times the number in the previous year. Fire weather warnings, on the other hand, were around half the 2002-03 number. Another indicator of the return to less dry conditions was the large number of thunderstorm warnings issued. Overall the number of warnings issued was high, but not exceptionally so.

User surveys continue to indicate that the Bureau's weather services are held in high regard by the general public. Quality targets were exceeded in all categories except timeliness (87 per cent of those surveyed felt that forecasts were timely; a little below the target of 90 per cent), though the 2003-04 figure was an increase on the previous year's 80 per cent. It should be noted, though, that some variation in this category may be due to a change in this specific survey question in 2004, such that it allowed a greater range of responses. The value for winter 2003 was 81 per cent satisfied, whereas the summer 2004 figure was 93 per cent.

Accesses to weather services by telephone was below target, but not significantly different from recent years. Facsimile services in particular continued to decline. This trend was more than offset by the growth in the number of accesses via the Internet. The move away from facsimile and some telephone services to the Internet reflects a community trend in the way the Bureau's information services are accessed.