Hi All
Has anyone on here ever approached the NSW Government about the lack of weather observation stations north of Sydney? Is it a Federal thing? I know it's been this way for a long time, but the recent lockdowns have given me more time to ponder these things.
By my reckoning there are seven weather stations in the 40km between Wattamolla in the Royal National Park and Manly's North Head. There are zero stations in the 65km from North Head to Norah Head Lighthouse.
Is this a concern to anyone else out there? Have many of you all been pondering the same thing in seclusion? I know that improvements in forecasting allow better forecasting but nothing beats seeing actual observations from a proper weather station. I also acknowledge that there are some private weather stations on places like Pittwater, but from my observations of their output to what's actually occurring, I feel they are in "less than optimal" positions.
At the minimum a station on Barrenjoey and maybe The Skillion at Terigal would be of immense use to people sailing the coast. Tracking Southerlies up the coast until they get to Sydney and then being in the dark until they get to you is one unfortunate byproduct.
I think if a count was made of useful stations from the Vic border to North Head and from North Head to the Qld border it would be a similar thing.
Great observation obviously. Certainly agree needs Barrenjoey and The Skillion as a minimum. All the coastal stations Aust wide are listed under the bom.gov.au site as below so assume it is a federal issue.
www.bom.gov.au/marine/about/observations/about-coastal-observations.shtml
Imho the BOM does a great job - but improvements such as this are always possible of course. They have a feedback link here which on first glance looks a tad onerous but there are so many categories the BOM covers it is assumed this is why the form is so extensive.
www.bom.gov.au/other/feedback/
Suggest you put in a contact question? If you want I can? BTW I have nothing to do with the BOM.
Yeah, I'll put one in, see what comes of it.
If anyone else is so desired they can too 
Try holfuy wind meter at long reef jethrow. Meter on pole about 3/4 of the way up the hill.
Have not used it a while but there was a site at Manly Hydraulic Laboratory which graphed barometric pressure at about 8 observation site on the same page.
So Gabo north.
Was brilliant for tracking the fronts
You could see the pressure drop off, had a delay but of about 50minute so you had to build that in.
Just checked still there but in a different format
Bummer, records every 15 sec but now only sends data twice a day.
No practical use now save for twice a day.
Select to expand quoteAUS126 said..
Try holfuy wind meter at long reef jethrow. Meter on pole about 3/4 of the way up the hill.
Nice find AUS126, thanks for that, looks like some good info on that site!
Edit: Bateau Bay as well...
Gold!
holfuy.com/en/weather/177
And for those who didn't know
www.pittwaterweather.com/
I tried the feedback option above using a modified question to the one I started the thread with, and got the following reply from BoM:
Thank you for your enquiry.
Looking at the locations you mentioned below, there is an Automatic Weather Station in Gosford. The Bureau also operates a number of non-automatic weather stations which are read manually by observers, or record some weather elements, but not all. You can find these weather stations via our Weather Station Directory here - www.bom.gov.au/climate/data/stations/ The decision about the location of automatic weather stations is made on the basis of the meteorological risks that communities face and the requirements of the general community as well as specialised users, eg marine, aviation and the emergency services.
We work with local councils and communities regarding the installation of an AWS, so should you wish to pursue this your local council may be a good place to start. Please also be advised that the average cost of AWS installation is $200,000 which can be a limiting factor in terms of funding new AWS sites.
For more information about the Automatic weather stations, check out this page - www.bom.gov.au/climate/cdo/about/sites.shtml And this page - www.bom.gov.au/climate/data/stations/about-weather-station-data.shtml
Alternatively, there are a number of more affordable Automatic weather stations available to purchase online if this is a better option for you. I hope this information helps you.
I guess that means the waters south of North Head down to Wattamolla are 7 times more dangerous than the waters from North Head to Norah Light... 
