Australia Weather News

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) says a miscalculation related to air pressure observations at a Tasmanian weather station has resulted in erroneous figures being published on its website.

The error was uncovered on Thursday after the BOM published a pressure of 1,044.6 hectopascals (hPa) at Sheffield, Tasmania, which would have exceeded the previous Australian record of 1,044.3hPa at Launceston on June 7, 1967.

However, drilling through the BOM's individual location observation pages revealed a lower pressure at Sheffield of 1,042.5hPa, sparking online debate and confusion among meteorologists and weather watchers as to whether or not a new record was actually reached.

The BOM said the error led to inaccurate reported pressure readings being on their real-time observation web pages and external data feeds.

"After conducting quality checks, the Bureau can confirm that the 1,044.6hPA recorded at Sheffield was erroneous," a spokesperson told the ABC.

"An incorrect coefficient was, for a period, being used to convert the observed pressure to MSLP [Mean Sea-Level Pressure] at our Sheffield automatic weather station.

"Preliminary findings suggest that this has affected the real-time Sheffield MSLP since February 2023."

Sheffield is the only site known to be affected and BOM data specialists are investigating, the spokesperson said.

According to the BOM the actual highest pressure observed on Thursday was 1,043.9hPa at Ouse, which would be 0.5hPa below the record set in Launceston back in June 1967.

The BOM's still displayed incompatible pressure readings as of Friday afternoon.