Storm warnings to ships at sea also had given rise to discussion at this time, since in some cases these advices had not reached vessels concerned, although they had been issued from the Directorate. Generally, it was agreed that while the meteorological service was responsible for issuing such warnings, it devolved upon the Naval authorities to transmit the information to ships concerned, and after consideration of all aspects of the matter it was decided to revise the whole warning system. This new scheme came into operation at the beginning of June 1943 after arrangements had been made with the naval meteorological liaison officer for proper promulgation through service publications of details of weather information available in South-West Pacific waters.

In February 1944 extension of the Darwin and Perth fleet synoptic services was considered, in conjunction with the meteorological liaison officer of the Australian Naval Board and the meteorological officer representing the British Eastern Fleet, in the light of requirements of the Eastern Fleet in the event of movement to Australasian waters. Arrangements for additional synoptic information to be included in these messages were made, while in June, forecast areas coordinated with those of African and Indian fleet services were delineated and submitted for approval. The latter action followed Admiralty advice that use of the Whitehall code for fleet purposes was favoured, but although 1 October 1944 was fixed as the tentative date for introducing the new system, it was postponed subsequently pending reorganisation of the whole network of fleet synoptic services. Finally, after many conferences with the Naval authorities, a revised system was brought into operation on 1 January 1945, containing two distinct types of meteorological messages—fleet forecasts and fleet synoptics. Forecasts, in the naval Whitehall code, were transmitted twice daily from Darwin, Townsville, Sydney and Perth, but fleet synoptic broadcasts from Sydney and Townsville were discontinued. In their place synoptic broadcasts from Darwin were extended to cover an area to 40 degrees north of the Equator, at the rate of four per day; at Perth two synoptic broadcasts each day were retained. These changes which were arranged to meet varying dispositions of naval units in the South-West Pacific and neighbouring theatres, were made subject to revision as operations required.

Bureau of Meteorology