Long-standing CRPA member Richie Nichols and his family have been recognised with a Bureau of Meteorology 100-Year Excellence Award presented by the governor of Tasmania for their longstanding commitment to climate data collection.
Since 1915, the Nichols family has been collecting daily rainfall data at their ‘Brookbank’ property near Richmond, and sharing that data with the BOM.
Mr Nichols said contributing to climate data is part of a family legacy that involves looking after the environment for the next generation.
“It’s very important that we have a generational legacy that passes down through the generations, and we’re very keen on that in terms of tree planting and looking after the environment,” he said.
The family has recorded the data through floods and drought, with last year returning a notable result for the Brookbank Estate.
“Richmond is classified as a semi-arid area, and last year was the second driest year on record in terms of Brookbank, which was about 320 millimetres,” he said.
Since the BOM was established in 1908, volunteers have been integral to its vast data collection.
There are currently over 4,600 volunteers around Australia who contribute daily.
Australia’s hardest-working rain gauge receives more than 8 metres of rain a year on average.
Ms Donnelly said the volunteers are very important for BOM to get an “accurate picture of rainfall across the country”.
“While the Bureau does have a number of automated weather stations around Australia, Australia is a vast country, and it’s just simply not enough,” she said.
“So the rainfall data that we collect from the Nichols family is just one of many different data points that we can put together.”
Original article by Eliza Kloser, ABC.
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