Arthur Muffatti Dies

Arthur's loss will be felt very keenly by the Bureau. Apart from the great respect in which he was held as a meteorologist and administrator, he also won the affection of those who worked with him for the humour and gentle manner which he always maintained even through the most hectic and onerous periods of work.

DIR John Zillman, who was travelling to Saudi Arabia as a member of a trade delegation, was contacted in Darwin and informed of Arthur's death. In his absence it fell to acting ADR, Henry Phillpot, who took over as DIR, to perform the sad duty of conveying the Bureau's sympathy to Arthur's wife Ann and their four children.

A memorial service on Wednesday 7 February was attended by over 150 people, among them the Secretary of the Department of Science and the Environment, Dr John Farrands; former DIR Dr Bill Gibbs, John Lillywhite, Arthur's predecessor as ADS; retired ADR Neil McRrae and RDVIC Keith Hannay, as well as the present acting DIR, all Assistant Directors, acting RDVIC, and Director of Antarctic Division Ray Garrod.

Dr Gibbs and STAN Peter Noar paid tribute to Arthur at the service, speaking of his contribution to meteorology both in Australia and internationally, his ability to inspire his colleagues, and the breadth of his intellectual interests.

29-Year Career With Bureau

Arthur joined the Bureau in Perth in 1950 with a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Western Australia and, following training as a meteorologist in Melbourne, was posted back to Perth the same year. He spent 1950–64 as a forecaster at WARO and Perth Airport, with a short spell at Woomera in 1953–54 providing forecasts for monitoring of airborne nuclear fallout as well as for routine aviation purposes.

In 1964 he took up a promotion as Met 3 in Head Office Weather Records and Statistics Section where he worked under present acting ADS Jack Maher, who was to remain a dose colleague for the remainder of Arthur's career.

About this time Arthur and Ann built their house in Vermont where they were to make their permanent home.

In 1968, Arthur became Supervising Meteorologist in the Extended Period Forecasting Sub-section of the National Meteorological Analysis Centre where he helped formulate the techniques currently used in preparing four day prognoses in the Australian region, completing the work of Jack Langford and George Rutherford. He was also involved in the establishment of the World Meteorological Centre in Melbourne.

Arthur became Superintending Meteorologist in NMAC in 1972 and, in 1974, succeeded John Lillywhite as Assistant Director Services where he had oversight of all the Bureau's operational activities.

Despite his career being almost completely keyed to operational aspects of meteorology, Arthur maintained a strong interest in the theoretical aspects of the science and published a number of papers on meteorological and statistical subjects. He was also an Associate of the Australian Institute of Physics.

Arthur was strongly involved in international activities in meteorology and attended the sixth (Belgrade, 1974) and seventh (Washington, 1978) sessions of the WMO Commission for Basic Systems (CBS) as Australia's Principal Delegate. CBS prime function is oversight of the implementation and operation of the World Weather Watch.

He was also a member of a WMO Executive Committee panel of experts on meteorological satellites.

Bureau of Meteorology