Остров Уиллис: Метеостанция в сердце Кораллового моря.

Willis Island is the only permanently inhabited island in the Coral Sea Islands Territory, an external territory of Australia, located beyond the Great Barrier Reef in the Coral Sea. The island is located some east of Cairns, Queensland. It is the southernmost of the Willis Islets, a group of three islands which with their associated sandy cays stretch in a NNE to SSW line for about Willis Island itself is aligned NW to SE and is about long by wide, in area, rising to about above sea level.

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology has a weather station on the island. There are usually four weather observers, one of whom is Officer in Charge, and one Technical Officer (electronic engineering) living on the island.

The Willis Island weather monitoring station was established in 1921 and equipped with a radio transmitter in order to provide a cyclone early warning service for Queensland. The first officer in charge was John King Davis.

On 2 February 2011, sometime shortly after 08:30 AEST, the eye of Cyclone Yasi moved directly over Willis Island as a Category 5 tropical cyclone. Four station staff had been evacuated the previous day. Roughly an hour later, communication with the island was completely cut off. The cyclone was so strong it altered the shape of the island and cleared much of its vegetation. Operation of the weather monitoring station was restored on 12 December 2011. Meteorology staff on the island were evacuated again in 2023 by a Royal Australian Navy (RAN) warship before Cyclone Jasper passed through the area on 11 December. Little damage was caused to the island and the BOM staff returned eleven days after they were evacuated.

In the past, landfill was buried on the island, and occasionally high winds and heavy seas from a cyclone would uncover parts of the waste. A major clean up campaign was conducted in 2004 and 2005 to protect the sensitive areas such as the coral cays and sand dunes. Today, all waste generated on the island, as well as any debris that washes ashore, is placed in bins and shipped back on the staff exchange vessel for appropriate disposal on the mainland. Tropical Cyclone Yasi uncovered a landfill site on the island, which was found to include some asbestos containing material (ACM). The area was remediated and all waste was removed from the island. Three formal Occupational Health and Safety investigations on Willis Island have been undertaken by independent assessors – GHD (2007 and 2011) and Parsons Brinkerhoff (April 2011 – after TC Yasi). These investigations found no significant potential for exposure to asbestos fibre for employees stationed on Willis Island. Occasionally old asbestos cement sheet washes up on Willis Island and is collected and bagged before being transported back to the mainland where it is disposed of in line with the Queensland Government's EPA legislative requirements. Full safety equipment is used. Staff generate their own supply of hydrogen for use in weather balloons. Prior to 1994, a chemical process to meet hydrogen needs was used. This process produced a toxic residue that was a danger to the local birdlife. Because of this danger, a safer "electrolytic converter" is now used to break down water into hydrogen and oxygen.

The most common inhabitants are wedge tailed shearwaters, sooty terns and common and black noddies. Their numbers are usually quite high and bird cries continue day and night on the island. Several species of booby migrate through the Island including masked, brown and red footed boobies, and also the lesser frigatebird. Crested terns are also seen to migrate, although not as often. Other birds mentioned by John King Davis are the buff banded rail as a resident, wood sandpiper, and sacred kingfisher and red tailed tropicbird as occasional visitors. Warm, windy and humid weather predominates the island even during the winter, with the average temperature being 26.6 °C (79.9 °F), but the long dry season reduces average annual precipitation, which is 1073.4 mm (42.3 inches). Temperatures are moderated in all seasons by the warm Coral Sea, which eliminates extreme weather. The absolute temperature range is very narrow: from 35.2 °C (95.4 °F) on 9 February 2002 to 18.4 °C (65.1 °F) on 28 June 2007. In addition, diurnal temperature range is limited in comparison to the city of Cairns on mainland Australia. High temperatures are similar year round, but Cairns averages cooler nights in the wet and dry seasons, along with lowered humidity. Temperature is slightly cooler in the dry season during the day and night: averages range from 28.5 °C (83.3 °F) in February to 24.4 °C (75.9 °F) in July and August. Precipitation is brought on by thunderstorms from northeasterly trade winds during the wet season, while the island is too far north for cold fronts from the Tasman Sea to arrive and deliver precipitation. Due to the "hit or miss" nature of these thunderstorms, precipitation is extremely variable in the summer. Only 1.0 mm (0.04 inches) was recorded in November 1992, but an astounding 1484.8 mm (58.46 inches) was recorded in March 1997, more than the annual average in just one month. Occasionally, cyclones can occur in the summer, and are more common than on the mainland, as average wind speeds are higher. Winters are much drier, bottoming at 7.1 mm (0.28 inches) in September.