Blue Skies welcomes MetService/NIWA agreement

Press release from Blue Skies Weather & Climate Services Ltd
 

Blue Skies welcomes MetService/NIWA agreement
 

Blue Skies Weather managing director Tony Trewinnard is cautiously optimistic that the memorandum of undertsanding between MetService and NIWA, announced today, will be of benefit to the weather industry in New Zealand.

“Previously both state owned organizations have soaked up large amounts of tax payer’s money for sometimes questionable benefit to the country”, he said. “The hot air has gone up, but the rain hasn’t always fallen out evenly”.

“This agreement provides a much needed basis for a more transparent and leaner operation of both organizations.  There are now a clear set of guidelines for both organizations to follow – the public, and others involved in the weather industry in New Zealand now have a clear view of what the government expects, and a way to test how the SOE and CRI they deliver.”

Mr Trewinnard noted with interest that one of the national benefit objectives of the agreement promises the government will soon see  “publicly funded data being available for the cost of provision for other users to add value (benefit B4)”.

“This means that finally, after nearly two decades of  independent weather providers banging their heads against the brick wall of data unavailability and research inapplicability, we will finally start to see some benefits flowing outside these two organizations”, he said. 

“The agreement clearly allows for other weather providers to benefit from the considerable public money which has flowed into NIWA’s research coffers over the last ten years, and from the government’s annual funding of MetService’s operation through the presently un-contestable crown contract for weather forecasting.”
 
“Its about time that all tax-paying weather providers in New Zealand, including MetService, get to benefit from the great work NIWA has done in developing a very sophisticated weather forecasting model for the country with tax payer funds.”

Blue Skies Weather is New Zealand’s second largest weather forecast provider, and this year celebrates 21 years in business – a history of service to weather users in the country second only to that of MetService.
 
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