BAMOS April 2025
12 Article
Giles Weather Station: Inside my life as a weather observer in remote Australia
Emma Lewis, Bureau of Meteorology( emma. lewis @ bom. gov. au)
Welcome to Giles Weather Station! For those interested in local First Nations cultures, the Giles sign I’ m standing next to is hand-painted on a repurposed car bonnet, which is regarded as a contemporary Aboriginal art medium. Credit: Emma Lewis
After several years with the Bureau of Meteorology( the Bureau), primarily in educational and workforce planning roles, I’ ve had the incredible opportunity to transition into a handson technical role that brings me closer to the core of weather observation.
My journey at the Bureau has been influenced by a deep fascination with remote locations like Willis Island, Antarctica, and Giles, places where my colleagues have shared amazing stories. I’ ve always dreamed of stepping into their world, and with perfect timing, life circumstances aligned, allowing me to embark on this adventure.
I am currently stationed at Giles Weather Station, located on Ngaanyatjarra land near Purli Yurliya( Rawlinson Ranges), about 750 km west-southwest of Alice Springs, near the Western Australian border. With a population of just three, the station lies on the edge of the Gibson Desert and is steeped in history, named after explorer Ernest Giles who traversed the region in the 1870s. The station is situated within the traditional country of the Ngaanyatjarra-speaking people and the Warakurna Community is nearby. This unique location offers not only the thrill of working in a remote environment but also the privilege of engaging with the local First Nations community.
Giles Weather Station is fully equipped to conduct a variety of important weather observations. In addition to upperair balloon measurements, the station performs surface observations and has a weather radar. Its strategic location in the centre of Australia, near the subtropical jet stream, is ideal for tracking weather patterns moving west to east, providing vital data for both local and global forecasting models.
As part of the GCOS Upper Air Network( GUAN), we release weather balloons twice daily— at 11:15 UTC and 23:15 UTC— gathering critical atmospheric data that contributes to global weather observations. The work is exhilarating, as I am directly involved in collecting data such as temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction— key information that helps improve weather forecasting worldwide. Each release allows us to