A handy resource for fossickers

[Lefty]

I guess most of you guys probably know about this but it just occurred to me to post it anyway.

There is nothing more totally suck-full than driving a couple of hours to a dig site, only to find that there has been a heavy cloudburst in that little localized area (while there has been nothing but blue skies and sunshine where you live) and that the ground is too wet, sloppy and muddy to dig or that little creek crossings have risen to be impassable, or both. The situation will probably only last a few days at best without further local rain but had you known in advance, you would have put it off until next weekend and saved yourself time, fuel, disappointment and whinging kids.

In addition to checking generalized BoM info for the area, I use this handy little resource here. These little remote rainfall recording stations are dotted all over the country, their purpose seems to be to provide a continuous feed of data to BoM as part of a flood watch/warning system. Move the mouse pointer over the stations represented as dots on the map, and each one will tell you how much rain there has been in that local area in the past 24 hours. For example, I see this morning that Mimdale remote station has received 2mm of rain in the past 24 hours. This would not stop anyone fossicking but had there been more, it would be handy to know since the Mimdale station is very close to the Lowmead amethyst dig site. It could well be fine in Gladstone or Bundaberg but impossibly wet at Lowmead. Conversly, the coastal townships of Agnes Water and 1770 are not far from Lowmead and regularly record heavy cloudbursts that are reported on the local TV weather report but they often don't go more than a few km inland - it can be wet and slushy at Agnes Water yet dry as a bone at Lowmead.

The map in the link is for my area but there is a map for every part of Australia. Have a play and see how many fossicking sites you visit that you can see are close to one of these stations.

It might be a worthwhile enough resource to sticky this thread

Cheers

[Aussie Sapphire]

Very useful website link Lefty.

I have stickied it as you suggest.

Weather is important to know when you are travelling - particularly if some of the areas are a bit remote and may not have good communications.  Having a look before you go can help.

Was thinking that info on bushfires, etc may also be useful so the following links may also be of interest:

Victoria emergency/incident map:   http://emergency.vic.gov.au/respond/
New South Wales fires near me map:    http://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/fire-information/fires-near-me
Queensland current incidents map:   https://www.ruralfire.qld.gov.au/map.html
South Australia warnings:  http://www.cfs.sa.gov.au/site/warnings_and_incidents.jsp
Western Australia alerts/warnings map:  http://www.dfes.wa.gov.au/alerts/Pages/alertsmap.aspx
Tasmania Fire Service map:   http://www.fire.tas.gov.au/Show?pageId=colGMapBushfires
Northern Territory incident map:   http://www.pfes.nt.gov.au/Fire-and-Rescue/Incident-map.aspx



Note that these links do change from time to time so if anyone notices a broken link, please advise and we will correct it.  Any other relevant suggestions, please add to the thread.

cheers
Leah

[Bluey Zarzoff]

Another good resource for bushfire info is sentinel.  http://sentinel.ga.gov.au/#/main

[Aussie Sapphire]

Another good resource for bushfire info is sentinel.  http://sentinel.ga.gov.au/#/main

Thanks for that one - Geoscience Australia has heaps of good stuff online for those interested in geology, etc.

cheers
leah

[Lefty]

Yep, more good resources there for us fossickers.

The internet has now given the ability to be pre-informed to degree not previously possible. As a kid, I remember how many times we would put the boat in at Gladstone harbour for a reef fishing trip, only to be turned around as we rounded Gatcombe head at the harbour entrance because of heavy seas - the weather report on tv the previous evening had said slight seas. It was the only info we had back then.

Cheers