About Port Hedland Meteorological Office

On July 17th 1942 Port Hedland Meteorological Office was opened as a part of the RAAF 78 Operational Base Unit, to support RAAF operations during World War II. The strategic location of Port Hedland did not escape the Japanese Forces. Almost two weeks after the office opened, the town and airport base were bombed, with a second raid in August of the same year. Weather forecasting and data collection supporting RAAF operations at Port Hedland, and initially at Corunna Downs, continued during the War years together with the servicing of the emerging civil air services. Four years later in 1946, the office and staff were transferred across to the Bureau of Meteorology.

Until the mid 1980s, Forecasters at Port Hedland provided services for the aviation industry. During at least part of this period the Weather Service Office (WSO) was co-located with the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) and pilots were provided with forecasts and briefings before they submitted their flight plans to DCA staff. Following the withdrawal of DCA staff and the restructuring of the provision of aviation services, forecasters provided a more limited service to the aviation industry but increased their role in supplying forecasting services to local communities. The WSO was located in the Port Hedland Airport Terminal during the period 1994-1999 and was combined with the Meteorological Office at the radar site in 1999.

Throughout this time, Port Hedland MO has been vital in providing meteorological services to the region, centred on the Northwest coast of Australia, which is among the most tropical cyclone prone areas of the world.

Today Port Hedland Meteorological Office has a permanent staff of two Meteorological Forecasters, three Observers and a Technical Officer (electronics), trained to the high standards of the World Meteorological Organisation. The staff take great pride in continuing the tradition of dedication and skill that has been established for well over half a century, providing Port Hedland and the wider Australian community with valued meteorological services.

The daily observation and weather-watch programme incorporates Aerodrome Weather Reports every half hour, as well as full Synoptic Observations every three hours. Meteorological observations are synchronised with those taken at the other 50 fully staffed Bureau stations around Australia. This information is supplemented by observations from a further 432 sites operated by Co-operative Observers (non- Bureau personnel working on a contract basis). Additional data is obtained from the Bureau's network of 480 Automatic Weather Stations. Hydrogen-filled balloons, carrying Vaisala GPs Radiosondes, are released every twelve hours and transmit back to the station information about the upper level wind and temperature structure.

All this data is incorporated into scientific models to assist with forecasts on local, state, national and global levels. This information is also archived to form a comprehensive climate database, which is essential to current and ongoing research into areas such as global warming and the depletion of stratospheric ozone.