The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has placed a Portable Automatic Weather Station (PAWS) in Wye River to help monitor the weather conditions around Wye River and Separation Creek.
PAWS is an instrument that can be set up in remote areas, where there is a possible gap in the weather observation network. The unit, which runs on solar power, is able to monitor wind, temperature, rainfall and relative humidity.
PAWS units have been used extensively during bushfires and also have a range of uses after an emergency or natural disaster, as it can provide localised weather conditions and help advise clean-up efforts in bushfire-affected areas.
It is important that BOM closely monitors the weather events in Wye River and Separation Creek due to the on-ground risks caused after the bushfires, such as the potential for landslides.
Data observations collected from the PAWS unit are available via the BOM website.
Wow! This is so cool. Installing a weather station in the river… I wonder how did they set up the unit. Never heard anything like this before. However, it sounds very useful.