In a regional area with a heavy focus on agriculture, few things are more important than the weather.
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The Bureau of Meteorology is aware of this and has committed to continuing Cootamundra’s daily weather observation at 9am, however has no plans to have someone check the instrument reading at 3pm, as done previously.
The Bureau’s Steve Brady confirmed the scrapping of the 3pm reading was a cost-cutting exercise, however stated that the historical record always came from the following day’s 9am reading as the mercury may not have always peaked by 3pm.
Expressions of interest are currently being taken for a new person to do the 9am reading with Mr Brady saying a good scope of candidates has been received and there should be no issue putting someone into the position, maintaining Cootamundra’s climate record.
The successful candidate will receive $12.47 a day to do the reading at the airport and send the information on a Bureau-supplied laptop.
Mr Brady said Cootamundra was not the only regional station to lose it’s 3pm reading, which does mean a minimum and maximum temperature can not be reported on the nightly news.
“It was deemed the cost was too high,” Mr Brady said.
He added, however that as automated technology grows, there may be an option for Cootamundra to have an automatic weather station in the future.
