General News
18 August, 2025
Auto weather station at Iluka mine shuts down
WEATHER data west of Horsham has gone offline recently with the termination of an automatic weather station site.
A Bureau of Meteorology spokesperson confirmed they stopped receiving data from the Kanagulk (ID 079097) AWS from Thursday, July 1.
The Bureau maintains and ingests data from several third-party stations.
Iluka Resources, the owner of the Kanagulk AWS, informed the Bureau that the mine site is closing and they no longer require the Bureau to maintain their equipment or ingest its data.
The spokesperson said data from this AWS does not contribute to the Bureau's long-term climate record, and an internal review confirmed that other sources of data would allow the ongoing provision of forecast and warning services in the region.
However, the termination of the site does leave a sizeable weather-data-gathering hole in the middle of an area bordered by Horsham, Mt William, Edenhope, Casterton and Hamilton.
Although not a Bureau AWS, Harrow Post Office has been gathering rainfall data via a manual gauge (ID 79021), as has Balmoral Post Office (ID 89003).
Another AWS site has been set up outside of Harrow, about three kilometres to the south-west, but is yet to be commissioned.