An insight into the "harsh" conditions we endure at Davis Station from Josh, our friendly Bureau of Meteorology technician.

The Riviera of the South

As a kid I wondered why adults always talked about the weather, how boring. Now that I’ve grown up and work for the Bureau of Meteorology, I realise it’s even more boring than I ever could have imagined.

Strap in, here’s a little bit of information on the weather at Davis station. Commonly known as the Riveria of the South, we have high temperatures, low winds and beautiful sunny days…relative to the rest of the continent.

We’ve had record low precipitation this year. A total of 36.4ml, 50% below average for Davis station, and about the same as Gympie had last Thursday.

There’s a blizzard going on at the moment, 60 knot winds whipping around handfuls of snow and volcanic grit. Imagine driving down the highway, your AC is set to -35 and you stick your head out the window just as a truck full of ice plows into a pile of aggregate. But those at Mawson station, where 90knot winds are not uncommon, will tell you that’s a walk in the park!

We have months where the sun doesn’t rise, and months where the sun doesn’t set. We even had a day where the sun set twice, first on our hopes and then on our dreams.

The average minimum temperature for August was -28, and yet mum still complains to me about the ‘cold snap’ they’re having on the Mid North Coast of NSW.

Anyway, that’s enough words from someone who don’t write good. I had ChatGPT write the first draft but it used too many big words, and I'm no English Lit major.

Stay warm, Josh

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