The voluntary winding up of Jane Bunn’s forecasting start-up last week has prompted questions from those using her service, but local leaders in Yanakie say the community weather project, which was mooted to use the Jane’s Weather platform, remains firmly on track.
“Work on the weather website is progressing,” Robert Tracy of the Yanakie Progress Association told the Prom Coast News.
As reported by The Age, Bunn has placed Jane’s Weather into liquidation with debts exceeding $370,000, including more than $305,000 owed to the Australian Taxation Office. The company had delivered AI-enhanced, hyper-local forecasts to sectors including agriculture and renewables.
After Yanakie’s BoM weather station was shuttered in mid-2025, the community received funding to work toward a model similar to that used in Mansfield, where local weather station data feeds into a tailored forecast platform (in that case, Jane’s Weather). But Mr Tracy confirmed to the Prom Coast News that Bunn advised the group late last year she would not be able to provide forecasting services.
Importantly, Mr Tracy said the Yanakie project does not hinge on that arrangement.
“There’s two different things,” he explained. “One is the data from the weather station – temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction – and the second one is the forecast.”
The existing weather station infrastructure, previously owned by South Gippsland Shire Council, has now been formally handed over to the Progress Association. The BoM has left the station in an operating state and it will stay at its current site.
“We’ve got a working weather station,” Mr Tracy said. “We’ve actually made some pretty
good advances in keeping this equipment and verifying that it’s working and giving us good data, which will be available to the community once the Shire commissions its new website.
Rather than paying ongoing fees to the Bureau of Meteorology, which had sought annual charges beyond the group’s capacity, the association will host live local conditions via a forthcoming Shire-managed website.
Forecasts, Tracey noted, can be accessed separately through the Bureau or other established apps.
Grant funding from the Gardiner Foundation remains allocated to cover connectivity, maintenance and recalibration costs, with longer-term funding models still under consideration.
Mr Tracy said he understood the new owner was continuing to provide the Jane’s Weather service so local forecasts remain a possibility, but stressed the Yanakie priority is clear: secure, community-owned local data first, forecasting overlays second.
“It’s a work in progress,” he said. “We’re heading in the right direction.” David Barrett
