About
The owner/operator of Truganina Weather is a retired Senior Meteorologist at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) whose career spanned thirty eight years. The first ten years were as an operational weather forecaster providing forecasts and warnings to aviation, shipping, fire authorities, offshore drilling and the general public; and the last twenty years as Manager of the Marine Observing Program. This latter period included fifteen years as the chair of two discrete international panels supporting the global activities of the WMO and the IOC.
Truganina (pronounced "Trug-a-NINE-ah"), or simply Trug to long-time locals, is an outer south-western suburb in the Melbourne Metropolitan Area. It is located approximately midway between Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, and Geelong, the largest provincial city in Victoria, and is predominantly within the City of Wyndham.
Wyndham is a fast growing local government area and home to strong industrial and technology districts, two major retail precincts, major tourism and open space attractions, intensive market gardening and grazing areas. It has an area of 542 square kilometres and an estimated population at 30 June 2024 of more than 337,000.
The popular theory about the origin of the name is that it is named after Truganini. She was one of the last full-blooded Tasmanian Aboriginal women and may have spent a short period time in the area, however this has never been verified.
Purpose & Objectives
The purpose of the PWS is to pursue a life-long passion for observing the weather.
The objectives of the PWS are:
- To record high quality weather and climate data for personal interest and analysis, and
- To provide high quality real-time weather data to national and international weather exchange networks.
Brief History
January 1981
The PWS was established in Werribee equipped with an aneroid barometer; standard 10 cm rain gauge; ex-BoM thermometers (maximum, minimum and two ordinary liquid-in-glass); and ex-BoM Stevenson Screen in need of repair. The daily rainfall and maximum and minimum temperatures were recorded on paper.
1989 - 2010
Daily monitoring of the PWS was on a hiatus from June 1989 until early January 2010 except for occasional extreme weather events.
January 2010
The PWS was reinstated to operational status with the acquisition of a marine aneroid barometer as the primary barometer.
June 2010
The PWS was upgraded by the installation of a La Crosse WS2355 automatic weather station (AWS). The thermo-hygrograph and electronic rain gauge were installed at a height of 3 m, with the former located inside a marine Stevenson Screen. The wind sensors were installed on a 10 m mast with good exposure in all directions. Data were transmitted wirelessly from the AWS and displayed on an indoor console that connected by cable to a computer. The WUHU weather monitoring software displayed the data on the screen and digitally stored the data on the computer. The manual instruments were retained and used as check and backup instruments.
The upgrade enabled the sharing of the real-time data with national and international weather exchange networks as Werribee Weather. The upgrade coincided with the launch of a website to display the daily weather data; the long-term climate data, including the digitised 1981-1989 rainfall data; and a range of complementary weather products from the BoM.
2012 - 2015
The website expanded with the addition of new climate statistics, local fire danger indices, and educational pages under the Weather Education heading.
February 2017
The PWS was disassembled ahead of a move to Truganina. Major repairs were carried out on the Stevenson Screen, including the fitting of a new roof and a complete repaint.
April 2017
The PWS was re-established at Truganina and commenced operating online as Truganina Weather with a new website (www.truganinaweather.com). The AWS thermo-hygrograph was installed inside the Stevenson Screen with the ex-BoM thermometers. The AWS rain gauge was fixed to the Stevenson Screen at a similar height to the standard rain gauge. The AWS wind sensors were not installed due to the lack of a site with good exposure.
2020
New web pages were added under Projects & Development for projects undertaken during the extensive COVID-19 lockdown.
March 2025
The 15 year old La Crosse WS2355 AWS was replaced by an all-in-one Tesa WS1081V3 AWS. The WUHU weather monitoring software was retired and replaced by Weather Display weather monitoring software.
April 2025
A homemade radiation shield was installed to protect the AWS thermo-hygrograph from direct solar radiation and other sources of radiated heat. A few weeks later a small solar powered water-proof fan was fitted inside the radiation shield to draw ambient air over the thermo-hygrograph to assist on days with a clear sky and very little wind to reduce excessive early morning temperature spikes.
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Awards
These awards were bestowed on our PWS (Truganina Weather 2018 - 2025 and Werribee Weather 2013 - 2016) in recognition of the observations submitted to the Met Office Weather Observation Website (WOW), up until its cessation at the end of 2025. The Gold Award is presented for submitting observations on at least 350 days during the year.
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| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 |
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| 2019 | 2018 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 |
Affiliations
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