meteorology

Day of the weather observers

On Friday 4 October 2024, GeoSphere Austria is organising an information exchange in Innsbruck and Salzburg for all people who have been reporting weather observations and looking after weather stations on a voluntary basis for many years.

GeoSphere Austria operates a dense measuring network with around 290 weather stations throughout Austria. Many meteorological parameters, such as temperature, wind, pressure, precipitation and humidity, are measured automatically around the clock and are immediately available online for forecasts and warnings. Every day, the 290 weather stations transmit around two million data records, which are also available in the long term for a wide variety of areas, such as for applications in the insurance, construction and energy industries as well as for climate research.

Group of people sitting in a room where a man is giving a lecture with a screen in the background

Vortrag

Lecture as part of the Day of Weather Observers.

Reliable eye observations are still important

However, some parameters cannot yet be measured fully automatically or require complex measuring devices that not all weather stations are equipped with.

"We are very grateful that we still regularly receive very high-quality eye observations, for example on the type and extent of cloud cover, type of precipitation, snow and fresh snow depth, visibility, fog and thunderstorms," says Manfred Bauer, head of the GeoSphere Austria regional office for Tyrol and Vorarlberg, "the approximately 150 weather observers in Austria provide us with very reliable information and most of them have many years of experience. Some of them have even been reporting weather observations from their location for 30, 40 or even over 50 years."

Exchange of experience on 4 October

On Friday, 4 October 2024, GeoSphere Austria is organising an information exchange at the Innsbruck and Salzburg locations for all those who have been reporting weather observations and maintaining weather stations on a voluntary basis for many years.

‘Observers from the most diverse regions of the country will come together here to exchange experiences and learn in short presentations for how many different areas your reports are an important basis,’ explains Michael Butschek, Head of the GeoSphere Austria Regional Office for Salzburg and Upper Austria.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)