Article
BAMOS August 2025
23
20 years later when he filled in as Regional Director in Darwin during Rex’ s absence in the US in 1980.
Rex will be remembered as the admired and respected leader of the Australian tropical meteorological community of his generation and as a cherished friend and mentor of all those who knew and worked with him. He was totally committed to the work of the Bureau, and, in his quiet and understated way, he both promoted and personified the enormous value of the Bureau’ s services to the nation. His contribution was recognised through the award of a Public Service Medal in 1994, and his special involvement with the work of AMOS— both before and after his retirement— was further acknowledged with Honorary Membership in 2007.
Rex is survived by Lyn, his beloved wife of 50 years, and by four children and four grandchildren who were the delight of his post-Bureau years. He was a much-respected and loved member of the Australian meteorological community for 65 years, and all his meteorological colleagues in AMOS join in mourning his passing, honouring his memory and extending their deep sympathy to Lyn and the family.
The Falls family on Moreton Bay. The sailor is home to the sea. Credit: Lyn Falls
Personnaly authored contributions I will miss him a lot.
Peter Price The world needs more people of the calibre of Rex Falls.
Bruce Neal
Rex was a great sailing, fishing, and camping companion and valued member of the Hash House Harriers and Darwin Met Squash Team. He was also a fantastic tropical meteorologist, two of many instances spring to mind.
• Rex was aware of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation before it became common knowledge, and he encouraged the staff of the Darwin office to appreciate its significance and to relate its influence to phenomena such as the date of the onset of the northwest monsoon in Darwin and its possible impacts on the climatology of southern hemisphere tropical cyclones.
• Prior to Rex’ s visit to the USA’ s weather centre in Guam, the Darwin upper air analyses over the northeast Pacific were dominated by a large anticyclone( largely because of the sparsity of upper air data). Once Rex saw the Guam charts, he realised we had been completely unaware of the presence of the Tropical Upper Tropospheric Trough( TUTT) routinely present over the area and that it was the cause of areas of tropical convection readily observed on satellite photos. We soon all knew about the TUTT!
A wonderful friend, scientist, leader and family man. Geoff Love
My first posting was to Darwin, and it was not long before I was on full duty. Initially, Rex seemed a rather distant fellow, but that was just his quiet nature. In those days, tropical analysis was done by hand, and there I was carefully adding lines to the analysis when Rex quietly said,“ You might try turning the lines towards low pressure at the coast, to account for increased friction over land.”
That quiet word evolved into conversations that carried me through my apprenticeship into the real world. I don’ t think I ever properly thanked him for that, so here goes:“ Thanks, Rex.”
Greg Holland
Rex had an enormous amount of knowledge of the tropical atmosphere, which he shared with us all. I remember Rex encouraging us to reference the monthly mean charts when preparing the analyses for the very large area of responsibility, which covered much of the western Pacific. Rex also encouraged all of the mostly young meteorologists in the office to keep up to date with the literature, something that operational meteorologists often neglected to do. He was always ahead of the game, and when he initiated the Darwin Tropical Diagnostic Statement, I was doubtful of its value, but soon became a convert. He was very calm in a tropical cyclone warning situation and always in complete control.
Looking back, he was really quite remarkable! Mark Williams
Rex impressed me with his gentle, honest and thoughtful approach to leadership. In various capacities over the years, I both challenged Rex and turned to him for advice and assistance. Even when I didn ' t get the answer I wanted, his reasoning was always explained, and I appreciated his help when it mattered most. Working with Rex as he gave his time to organise the 2004 AMOS Storms Conference after his retirement was a highlight. He was easy and fun to work with and it enabled me to further appreciate the extent of his vision, knowledge and global contacts in meteorology.
Ann Farrell
An outstanding tropical meteorologist, an endearing friend and professional colleague and a Bureau of Meteorology mentor and role model for a generation.
John Zillman