WombatNET

Happy 2nd birthday to the Upper Hutt Weather Station!

If you've ever checked the local temperature or rainfall through Wellington Severe Weather Reports, there's a fair chance that data reached you over our network. WombatNET has carried the station's connection since 2025, and we're glad to support a true community project, one that took years of crowdfunding and sheer persistence from Daniel Talbot to get off the ground.

We're also working with the team on some behind-the-scenes tidy-up of the back end, so the station can keep delivering reliable observations well into the future, to the public and schoolkids of St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, where the station is located.

If you haven't come across it before, give WELLINGTON SEVERE WEATHER REPORTS a follow. It's an excellent example of what a community can build when enough people get behind it.

Congratulations to everyone involved. Here's to many more!

🎉 HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY TO THE UPPER HUTT WEATHER STATION 🎉

Today marks 2 years since the official opening of the Upper Hutt Weather Station.

💙 If the Weather Station has been useful to you over the last two years, please leave a comment below and let us know where you follow us from. We'd love to hear from you.

This project took 7 years of crowdfunding, planning, determination, and community support to become a reality.

Back in June 2017, I started a dream of building a state-of-the-art weather station for Upper Hutt. At the time, many people felt our local temperatures and weather conditions were not being properly recognised. My vision was to create an official weather station that would provide accurate weather observations, valuable climate data, and educational opportunities for future generations.

Over the next seven years, the community rallied behind the project.

More than $80,000 was donated by members of the public, while the total project value exceeded $200,000 thanks to the incredible support of local businesses, contractors, sponsors, volunteers, and MetService.

Today, the station provides freely available weather observations to the public through Wellington Severe Weather Reports, the WSWR website, and MetService. It serves as the official weather station for Upper Hutt and provides valuable climate records for years to come.

A special thank you to our sponsors and supporters who helped make this project possible:

• Whakatiki Engineering
• Manor Park Golf Club
• Dave Allen Photography
• Ventech Systems
• Peryer Construction
• Hardwired Electrical
• Advance Electrical
• Hunt Electrical
• MetService
• Andy Hoey – Flexdesign
• Dzine Signs
• Samsung New Zealand
• NewBold's Upper Hutt
• The Survey Company
• Urban Edge Planning
• Upper Hutt City Council
• Diamond Civil
• Engineer Marshall
• Taylor Fencing
• Hammond Crane and Cartage
• Online Communications
• Upper Hutt Readymix
• Hammond Transport
• Steam n Sand Porirua
• MAC Access
• McMUD Earthworks and Bark Ltd

Each of these organisations and individuals played an important role in bringing this vision to life. Their generosity, expertise, guidance, equipment, materials, and support helped transform a community dream into reality.

Most importantly, thank you to every member of the public who donated, shared our fundraising posts, supported our events, and believed in the project over the last seven years. This weather station belongs to the community as much as it does to me.

The Upper Hutt Weather Station now stands as the official weather station for Upper Hutt, providing valuable weather observations, climate records, educational opportunities for St Joseph's School, and critical information during severe weather events.

Here's to many more years of serving the Wellington Region and our community.

Daniel Talbot
Founder
Wellington Severe Weather Reports (WSWR)

MetService New Zealand

Starlink's rural boom raises competition concerns. Peter Griffin 2degrees Tech | Herald NOW Business

For thirty years, New Zealand has been building rural connectivity in layers. Fibre. Fixed wireless networks. Mobile coverage. Copper, where it still runs. Local providers who turn up when something breaks. Redundancy, fallback, options.

That layered model is dissolving onto a single foreign-owned satellite service, fast.

The service has been a game changer for many rural users. That's important to acknowledge.

What's worth asking alongside is what it means for the country to lose those layers. If the satellite service is restricted, changes its terms, becomes unaffordable, or fails for any reason, what does rural New Zealand fall back on? Who is responsible for thinking about that? And what work has actually been done?

The Commerce Commission's independent expert flagged the risk last year. The relevant agencies have not done the analysis. The Minister holds advice but won't release it.

Disclosure: WombatNET is a regional wireless ISP. Starlink is a direct competitor. But the question is way bigger than that.

NZ wireless internet provider warns of Starlink's rural broadband monopoly risk Rural New Zealand risks relying too heavily on one satellite internet provider, the government is being warned.

What's your no power plan? 🤔 💡
⛈️Severe weather like what is forecast for the North Island on Sunday, can extensively damage power lines, poles and other equipment – cutting supply to customers and communities for potentially days.

To help you get through, prepare now:
📱Make sure you fully charge your devices and consider having a spare battery or mobile power pack.
🔦Keep a torch, battery-powered lantern and spare batteries handy.
🫗Have a supply of emergency water (consider your animals needs too)
🔥Make sure the gas is topped up for your BBQ or camping stove. That way you can continue to prepare hot food for your family.
🚑Medically dependent on power? Check with your doctor and your energy retailer (the company you pay your power bill to) to ensure your back up plan is up to date.
🔌Protect electronics with surge devices.
⚡If you run a business, consider a back-up generator as part of your business contingency planning. Then, even if the power is out, you can keep operating as usual.
🚗Know how to override your garage door.

🚨Putting away outdoor furniture, securing any loose debris, and tying down your trampoline is also important before high winds arrive, so they don’t take flight and hit power lines.

👀Keep an eye on MetService New Zealand for the latest watches and warnings. We are continuing to monitor the situation and have extra crews on standby.

👉🏼It’s important to remember that in severe weather it takes time to reconnect all affected customers. It’s dangerous for crews to climb poles in high winds so, for their safety, they may not be able to fix faults until the weather calms. And, if there’s trees down over lines or roads closed because of flooding, it can be difficult for crews to quickly assess what needs to be done to fix damaged equipment. Thank you in advance for your patience.

Find out more: https://www.powerco.co.nz/news/media/customers-urged-to-prepare-for-power-outages-ahead-of-cyclone

We'll be working with Civil Defence Emergency Management across the motu. Keep an eye on their pages for updates:
Bay of Plenty Civil Defence
Civil Defence Waikato
Thames-Coromandel District Council
Taranaki Civil Defence Emergency Management
Civil Defence Manawatū Whanganui
Wellington Region Emergency Management Office