Posted by Sam McCurdy:
The guest speaker at this week’s meeting was PP Gus Dominguez, who is a Project Manager with the Bureau of Meteorology in Melbourne. When club members experience bad weather, he is always blamed!
Gus enthralled the meeting with a very interesting and informative summary of the BOM’s activities which enable accurate predictions our weather patterns.
We learnt about the amazing number of measuring instruments placed strategically around the country that feed information to the Bureau 24/7, requiring immediate computer analysis. This information is readily available on their website.
We also learnt that Australia is a member of the World Meteorology Organisation and our complex instrument network and data analysis capacity places us within the top five countries in the world in climate predictions.
The World Meteorological Organisation in Geneva is a specialised agency of the United Nations responsible for promoting international cooperation on atmospheric science, climatology, hydrology and geophysics.
Their early and reliable warnings of severe weather and fluctuations in air quality as well as of climate variability and change, allow decision-makers, communities and individuals to be better prepared for weather and climate events.
Gus used the 9-minute cartoon of the 'Climate Dogs' above to explain the intricacies of our changing weather patterns around the country, including the infamous La Nina.
His presentation prompted several interesting questions, including his view on ‘Climate Change’. The response was a confirmation that “Climate Change’ has always been there, but the scientific data shows an exponential change in climate in recent years that can only be caused by mankind.
Thank you Gus, for your awesome presentation. We’ll try not to blame you next time we experience foul weather.
