Primary Industries

Home > Primary Industries > Primary Industries (240 hours) > Compulsory units > Observe and report on weather > Observe and report on weather

Key terms and concepts

Term	Definition
Bureau of Meteorology	Federal government agency responsible for observing, monitoring, recording, forecasting and reporting information about the climate and weather across Australia and the surrounding region.
Climate	The sum of all the weather recorded over a long period of time and reported as long-term records, trends and averages.
Enterprise	A business unit characterised by the production of a particular type of product or service, eg beef cattle enterprise, cropping enterprise, vegetable-growing enterprise.
Forecasting techniques	Methods used to predict probable future weather conditions.
Forecasts	Statements of probable future weather conditions calculated from meteorological data.
Grazier alert	A warning issued to farmers when cold, windy and rainy conditions increase the risk of death in newborn lambs and recently shorn sheep.
Meteorological conditions	The situation in the weather at a point in time.
Monitor weather and climate	Observe and record short and long term atmospheric conditions and access current meteorological information.
Preventative action	Something done as a precaution or to minimise a risk.
Regular updates	Reports given at set intervals about weather conditions.
Relevant personnel	People who might need to be contacted such as other staff and colleagues, owners, managers and government or regulatory officers.
Reporting and recording	Providing information to others about an event (reporting) and preparing a written account (recording).
Weather	The description of atmospheric conditions such as wind, temperature, cloudiness, precipitation and air pressure over a short period of time.
Weather and climate conditions	Short and long term situations relating to the atmosphere experienced over a given region.
Weather maps	Charts of a country or region showing weather systems, high and low pressure cells, isobars (lines of equal atmospheric pressure), cold and warm fronts and potential precipitation.
Weather station	Site equipped with meteorological instruments that measures data related to the weather that is recorded manually or automatically.
Weather updates	Reports about changes to current or probable future weather conditions.
Weather warning	Notification issued by the Bureau of Meteorology on a state by state basis of impending or actual weather that has the potential to cause loss of life or damage to property.
Wind chill	The phenomenon where increasing wind speed causes the apparent temperature to drop.
Wind chill factor	Calculated temperature that represents the ‘feel’ of a wind on exposed human skin in terms of an equivalent temperature in still air.
Wind shear	The variation in wind speed (speed shear) and/or direction (directional shear) between two layers of air sliding over one another.
Work programs	Schedules of tasks planned to be done at work.
Work tasks	Specific jobs to be done at work.

Back to Observe and report on the weather