About Truganina Weather
The name Truganina (pronounced "Trug-a-NINE-a" by 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.
Truganina, or just Trug to many older locals, 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 a population of more than 200,000.
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-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 and the general public; and 20 years as the manager of the marine observing program. The latter period also included 15 years as the chair of multiple international panels tasked with coordinating separate components of national marine meteorological and oceanographic observing programs to support the global programs of the WMO and the IOC.
The purpose of our PWS is "to pursue a life-long passion for observing the weather".
The objectives of our PWS and website are to:
- Record high quality daily weather data from Truganina for personal interest and analysis,
- Provide high quality real-time weather data to weather exchange networks,
- Provide website visitors with high quality and useful local weather and climate data, and
- Provide website visitors with useful complementary weather products and weather-related information.
Website
This website conforms to international web standards specified by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). It also complies with Australian and international guidelines for web accessibility and incorporates navigational aids to assist a visually impaired visitor.
Awards
Our PWS has received the following awards from the United Kingdom Met Office Weather Observations Website (WOW) for submitting observations during the year.
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History
The following is a brief history of our PWS from its original establishment in Werribee.
January 1981
The PWS was established in Werribee equipped with an aneroid barometer; raingauge; 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
The PWS was non-operational from June 1989 to January 2010 apart from the occasional extreme weather event worth recording.
January 2010
The PWS became operational again 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-hygro sensor 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 indoors console that was connected by cable to a computer, enabling the WUHU weather monitoring software to display the data on the screen and store it on the hard drive. The manual instruments were retained, with some designated 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-hygro sensor 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
The website expanded to include web pages for projects undertaken during the COVID-19 lockdown under the Projects & Development heading.
March 2025
The 15 year old La Crosse WS2355 AWS was replaced by an all-in-one Tesa WS1081V3 AWS. The WUHU software was replaced by Weather Display software.
April 2025
A homemade radiation shield was installed to protect the AWS thermo-hygro sensor from direct solar radiation and other sources of radiated heat. A small solar powered water-proof fan was later fitted inside the radiation shield to draw ambient air over the thermo-hygro sensor to assist on days with a clear sky and very little wind.
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