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Where does our weather information come from?

Weather content provided by The Weather Company is based on content sourced from the following organisations.

• Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM)
• Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA)
• World Meteorological Organisation (WMO)
• Swellnet
• Customweather
• European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF)
• US National Weather Service (NWS)
• Metservice (NZ)
• Department of Natural Resources
• Environmental Protection Authority (EPA)
• Global Positioning and Tracking Systems (GPATS)
• British Navy
• Ski.com.au
• Profarmer
• Australian Broadcasting Corporation
• Manly Hydraulics Laboratory
• UV data supplied by KNMI/ESA

The Weather Company takes weather information from a variety of sources and provides custom weather packages for websites and television broadcasters. Much of the weather information used by The Weather Company originates from the Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology.

Bureau of Meteorology information is typically combined with other content and information generated by The Weather Company’s meteorologists to form a complete package for the client.

The Weather Company also runs the WRF model in-house to produce a completely independent and highly accurate set of forecasts. Many clients require the higher accuracy and resolution provided by The Weather Company’s in house meteorological department.

Content is delivered by XML web services, hosted websites and extranets, TV graphics systems, mobile sites, RSS feeds and other custom delivery mechanisms.

Attribution for all the different types of content used by clients of The Weather Company is detailed below.

Observations, current conditions and climatological information

These data are sourced originally from the Bureau of Meteorology, Metservice NZ, the World Meteorological Organisation and the US National Weather Service. In some cases, The Weather Company applies formulae to the data in order to create additional fields for specific purposes. Examples of these are “wind chill”, “heat stress”, “growing degree days” and so on.

Weather observations are provided to clients with limited quality control.

Weather forecasts

Australian weather forecasts supplied by The Weather Company are sourced from Bureau of Meteorology forecasts or created by in-house models. Additional forecasts are provided by overseas providers including Metservice NZ, Customweather and the WMO.

The Bureau of Meteorology also provides marine forecasts, weather warnings and aviation forecasts.

Increasingly, The Weather Company is replacing Bureau of Meteorology forecasts with independent forecasts produced by in-house modelling and meteorologists.

Major city forecasts are here: Melbourne weather, Sydney weather, Brisbane weather, Perth weather, Adelaide weather

Long Range weather forecasts - 14 days to 12 months

These forecasts are produced by The Weather Company’s meteorologists using raw information provided by international weather agencies.

These forecasts are produced using a combination of techniques, some in the public domain and others developed by The Weather Company. The result is a suite of long range forecasts that are considered to be the most accurate available for the Australian region.

More information on long range forecasts and 14 day forecasts

River heights and dam levels

These readings are provided variously by the Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology, Department of Natural Resources in New South Wales, Sydney Catchment Authority, Melbourne Water and other local water agencies.

Air quality readings and forecasts and beach quality reports

This information for Melbourne and Sydney are provided by the respective Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) in each state.

Satellite imagery

All satellite imagery originates from the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). The Weather Company receives this information via the Bureau of Meteorology where it is  passed onto The Weather Company.

The Weather Company produces custom weather satellite images for clients.

Weather radar data

All weather radar images provided by The Weather Company originate from the Bureau of Meteorology’s radar network. Raw radar data is delivered to The Weather Company where custom software generates images for web and TV clients.

Lightning data

Real-time lightning strike data is provided by GPATS. GPATS retain the rights to this data. The Weather Company has exclusive rights to provide this information on GPATS’s behalf to television broadcasters.

Sunrise and sunset

Sunrise and sunset times are computed by The Weather Company using formulae that are in the public domain.

Tide times

Tidal times are computed by The Weather Company using hydrographical data originally sourced from the British Navy.

Surf reports and forecasts

Surf forecasts and reports are sourced from Swellnet.

Real-time swell data

Swell readings for the New South Wales coast are provided by the Manly Hydraulics Laboratory.

Snow reports

All ski and snow reports provided by The Weather Company are sourced from ski.com.au.

Snow forecasts

Forecasts of snow and alpine conditions and related commentaries are produced by The Weather Company’s meteorological department. These forecasts are based on data from various sources including the Bureau of Meteorology.

Weather maps and computer generated forecast charts

The Weather Company provides a large range of weather forecast guidance heavily based on computer models. These computer models are run by ECMWF, US National Weather Service and the Bureau of Meteorology. In addition, The Weather Company runs computer models in-house to generate additional forecast guidance for specific applications.

In most cases these computer generated forecast charts are provided with little or no quality control and should only be used in conjunction with other meteorological guidance.

Regardless of the organisation running the model, all computer forecast models for the Australian region are run using source data collected by the Bureau of Meteorology.

Agricultural commodity information

Information and News relating to agricultural commodities is sourced from ProFarmer.

Weather News stories

Stories relating to breaking weather events are produced internally and also sourced from the ABC.

Summary

More information regarding weather packages for television broadcasters.

More information regarding weather content and services for internet sites.

We also provide basic internet weather services free of charge.