About
Truganina (pronounced "Trug-a-NINE-ah"), or simply Trug to many 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, one of the last full-blooded Tasmanian Aboriginal women, who may have spent a short time in the area, however this has never been verified.
Background & Purpose
The owner and operator of Truganina Weather is a retired Senior Meteorologist at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BoM). Our BoM career spanned 38 years that included the first 10 years as an operational weather forecaster providing forecasts and warnings to aviation, shipping, fire authorities, offshore drilling and the general public; and the last 20 years as Manager of the Marine Observing Program. This latter period also included 15 years as the chair of two international panels tasked with coordinating separate components of national marine meteorological and oceanographic observing programs in support of the global activities of the WMO and the IOC.
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 data for personal interest and analysis,
- Provide high quality real-time weather data to national and international volunteer weather networks,
- Provide high quality local weather and climate data on the website for the public, and
- Provide complementary weather products and educational information on the website for the public.
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Brief PWS History
January 1981
The PWS was established in Werribee equipped with an aneroid barometer; rain gauge; ex-BoM maximum, minimum, dry bulb and wet bulb thermometers; and an ex-BoM Stevenson Screen in need of repair. The daily rainfall and maximum and minimum temperatures were recorded on paper.
1989 - 2010
Apart from occasional extreme weather events, active monitoring of the PWS was on a hiatus from June 1989 until January 2010.
January 2010
The PWS was reinstated to operational status with a marine aneroid barometer as the primary barometer.
June 2010
The PWS was upgraded with the installation of a wireless La Crosse WS2355 automatic weather station (AWS). The thermo-hygrograph was installed inside a marine Stevenson Screen at a height of approximately 3 m, alongside the electronic rain gauge. The wind sensors were installed on a 10 m mast with good exposure in all directions. Data from the AWS were displayed on an indoor console connected by cable to a computer that enabled the WUHU weather monitoring software to display the data on the screen and store the data digitally on the computer. The manual instruments were retained, mostly as check 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 the Werribee Weather 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 informational web 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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