The windstorm experienced last week was the worst so far this fall/winter. Wind gusts of up to 90 km/h at the unmanned weather station on Gonzales attest to this.
Gonzales was the long-term weather station that began observations in 1914. Unfortunately, due to budget cuts, Gonzales became an automatic station that recorded most but not all weather elements. The important factors that machines are not able do well, if at all, have to do with cloud amounts and types, fog in the vicinity, precipitation type and its occurrence, and weather not at the station, but close at hand.
Apart from losing a long-term base station, where such important items could be retrieved, the loss of a qualified weather observer becomes critical when Victoria experiences storms such as we had last week. One of the important outcomes associated with the high winds was that both Gonzales and another important weather station, Saturna light, were knocked out of commission by the high winds.
All of this brings to mind the bad decision to remove lighthouse keepers to save money. But where is the loss of lives in the equation, both because of a loss of critical weather data and the lighthouse keepers, who were there to come to the aid of those in distress?
Rod Chilton
Victoria
