What did the ATIS before that say?
When I was there from memory it was in the vicinity of 22kts.
It is quite possible it was there for trend, allowing pilots in the vicinity to know what the wind was doing at the time.
Being told the 500ft wind is a great idea if there is tailwind around. With the winds I heard, the 500ft tailwind was calculated to be about 7kts, which is not inconsiderable. If on approach there was a 7kt tail at 500ft most crew would report it to ATC... and hence it appears on the ATIS. Although at most airports that would have been enough for the duty runway to be changed... but alas not Sydney.
I think this is a great demonstration of operationally relevant information being provided, particularly at an aerodrome that doesn't conform to the regular standards for runway selection.
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