Tim Herse, Weather Freak

By Angela Hoskins

Tim with his trusty rain gauge.

Tim Herse is a self-proclaimed weather freak — always has been. Since he moved to Coochiemudlo, he’s been methodically recording the island’s rainfall and each month he posts the tally to the Coochie Community Facebook group. He gets likes from every resident with an interest in gardening, rainfall patterns, dry spells, and big wet times.

It was a flood that delayed Tim and his family’s move to the island in early 2011.  At the time, they were living on a 1000-foot high mountain top that overlooked the Lockyer Valley. As the family were packing and preparing to move, Tim witnessed the whole valley fill with water. A waiting game went on for days but at least they were safe — unlike many communities scattered across the flooded lowlands to the east, from Grantham and around Ipswich to Brisbane.

Tim started recording the island’s rainfall the day he arrived. It was just a matter of time before he met fellow weather freak and long-time resident Bruce Green, a JP on the island. Bruce had been recording the island’s rainfall since the 1990s and a friendship clicked instantly, mutual respect, no surprises there. However, Bruce became unwell and unable to continue with the rainfall recordings. Bruce passed away in January 2018. That’s when Tim started publishing his own rainfall data on a regular basis, after getting approval to do so from Bruce’s wife, Norma Green. She reckoned Bruce, in his mind, had already passed on the baton, as the island’s rainman, to Tim.

Tim’s clipboard and rainfall record sheets.

Like Bruce, Tim is old-school when it comes to recording data. He has a clipboard with sheets of Bureau of Meteorology print outs — A4 sheets, each with a table to record daily rainfall for each month, for each year. He tallies each month’s readings and lets the community know the amount of rain the island got via Facebook.

Peter Wear, convenor of the island’s Bushcare group, is a fan. “We're very lucky to have a resident weather-watcher. Tim’s records capture our seasonal variability. Rainfall readings offer a good indication of the best times of year to plant out native plant tube stock on the island.” After entering the past five years of Tim’s data into a digital spreadsheet, Peter produced the following two graphs:

1. Coochiemudlo rainfall by year from 2011 to 2024

2. Coochiemudlo Island monthly rainfall 2021 to 2024.

These graphs were first published to When it Rains it Rains, a Bushcare webpage on the Native Nursery website. Peter has given us permission to republish the graphs here.

When it rains, it rains … or else it doesn’t, or hardly does

In February 2022, the island got a prolonged drenching — almost the same rainfall for the whole of 2014. May was second wettest month in 2022, an unusual time of year to be that wet, and the highest May reading in Tim’s set of data. Graph credit: Peter Wear.

Monthly groupings over 2021–2024 show a more 'normal' distribution of rainfall. Spring and summer seem more variable than the cooler months. March appears to be more consistent when it comes to rainfall. Graph credit: Peter Wear.

Norfolk Beach on the east of Coochiemudlo with a sea squall crossing the Bay from the south east. While Macleay and Peel Island got plenty of rain, none fell on our island. Photo credit: Peter Wear

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Tim Herse and Peter Wear.