Bureau of Meteorology technicians visited the Mount Gellibrand weather station near Colac on Wednesday, after being contacted by Member for Polwarth Richard Riordan on Tuesday about rainfall recordings from the station during October. 

 It was found that the rainfall gauge had been damaged, with a filter having been chewed, presumably by an animal, and the damaged filter then partially blocked the gauge.  

A BOM spokeswoman said that as a result, rainfall recorded by the gauge during October was likely much less than what actually fell. 

"The instrument is now fixed and should record normally”, BOM state manager Andrew Tupper said. 

"We make every effort to keep our sites clear of animal and human interference and to perform regular instrument checks across the state, but sometimes these things happen. 

‘We’re always grateful for feedback from members of the public to help identify issues quickly.  

"We appreciate receiving reports of suspect observations, just as we also benefit from the reports of over 5000 volunteer weather observers, and from community reports about severe weather, and service suggestions."

Mr Tupper said that no matter how high-tech weather forecasting gets, feedback was essential.

"No matter how fast the supercomputers or how advanced the science, a lot of it comes back to having as many boots on the ground and as much community ownership as possible," he said. 

"Australia is a large country and community involvement in weather and climate monitoring really helps us out."

Dr Tupper said that he would be keen to see how the station performed during the next rain.

Tuesday: The Bureau of Meteorology is being called on to provide the Colac district, south of the Princes Highway, with a more accurate weather recording station.

Polwarth MP Richard Riordan said that midway through October this year, rainfall data from the BOM has shown a difference greater than 60mm in comparison to rainfall measured by many local rain gauges.

“These discrepancies in actual rainfall can have a serious detrimental effect on those agricultural industries that rely on accurate BOM rainfall data to operate,” he said.

“New irrigation technology used by farms, sporting venues and local gardeners all expect reasonably accurate data.

“As of October 23, the BOM had recorded only 8mm of rain at the Mount Gellibrand weather station at the same time that unofficial reports have recorded in excess of 70mm. “

Mr Riordan said the situation was untenable.

“We cannot continue to rely on data that does not reflect what is actually happening here,” he said.

“The figures recorded at Mount Gellibrand are possibly due to a fault in the equipment or are totally unrelated to our region due to geographical differences.

“Either way we can no longer rely on this information. The official BOM rainfall figures are unacceptable and this large discrepancy in the data reported should not be tolerated. Our community deserves a better and more reliable service.” Mr Riordan said.