Interesting to reflect on the 36deg at Chch Aero on the 21st, thats 15deg above the long term monthly mean max, so has contributed nearly +0.5 to the +0.7 monthly departure from normal.
For Auckland the Manakau harbour side of town is a little cooler in the maximums and less sunny when southwest flows dominate like they have in the past few months.
spwill wrote:For Auckland the Manakau harbour side of town is a little cooler in the maximums and less sunny when southwest flows dominate like they have in the past few months.
Yes, Auckland airport is coastal and wind blown in a southwesterly.
Auckland airport gets warmer temperatures in an E or NE. The same for Mangere.
spwill wrote:For Auckland the Manakau harbour side of town is a little cooler in the maximums and less sunny when southwest flows dominate like they have in the past few months.
Not sure I'd agree that Mangere and Akld Aero are less sunny in a SW flow. Quite the opposite in fact, particularly during the warmer months. Mangere's sunshine hours this Dec were actually 112% of normal and Nov 103% of normal. However Oct was 95% of normal, mainly due to a prolonged period NE'rs brought about by that stubborn cut-off low(s). Sunshine for the entire year was 106% of normal, with only 4 months being a little below normal.
Interestingly, Mangere's average T-max for the whole of 2015, including the average T-maxs for the last few months, have been higher than the several other NIWA and MS Akld sites, despite Mangere's long-term average T-maxs normally being one of the lowest.
spwill wrote:For Auckland the Manakau harbour side of town is a little cooler in the maximums and less sunny when southwest flows dominate like they have in the past few months.
Not sure I'd agree that Mangere and Akld Aero are less sunny in a SW flow. Quite the opposite in fact, particularly during the warmer months. Mangere's sunshine hours this Dec were actually 112% of normal and Nov 103% of normal. However Oct was 95% of normal, mainly due to a prolonged period NE'rs brought about by that stubborn cut-off low(s). Sunshine for the entire year was 106% of normal, with only 4 months being a little below normal.
Interestingly, Mangere's average T-max for the whole of 2015, including the average T-maxs for the last few months, have been higher than the several other NIWA and MS Akld sites, despite Mangere's long-term average T-maxs normally being one of the lowest.
The sun readings from the Albany site are pretty consistently higher than those from Mangere, but I'm sceptical of the accuracy and consistency of readings from many of the EWS sites anyway.
RWood wrote:The sun readings from the Albany site are pretty consistently higher than those from Mangere, but I'm sceptical of the accuracy and consistency of readings from many of the EWS sites anyway.
Yes, I had the same misgivings about the Albany EWS, although I'm not sure if Mangere has switched to a similar electronic sunshine recorder yet? I'd imagine that all the manual Campbell–Stokes recorders will eventually be phased out.
RWood wrote:The sun readings from the Albany site are pretty consistently higher than those from Mangere, but I'm sceptical of the accuracy and consistency of readings from many of the EWS sites anyway.
Yes, I had the same misgivings about the Albany EWS, although I'm not sure if Mangere has switched to a similar electronic sunshine recorder yet? I'd imagine that all the manual Campbell–Stokes recorders will eventually be phased out.
As I understand it NIWA is using Kipp-Zonen recorders for all EWS sunshine measurements. I'm fairly confident that "Mangere EWS" (with just one report line) implies that usage - at Kelburn (eg) sunshine recording is still manual and the 2 reporting entities are kept separate. Already the EWS sites outnumber manual ones significantly, and I notice that the incidence of missing days in the data record at some manual sites - eg Christchurch Aero and Napier has increased. It is clear that in nearly all cases EWS replacements register many more hours than their manual predecessors - typically 150-200 but over 300 in some cases.
spwill wrote:For Auckland the Manakau harbour side of town is a little cooler in the maximums and less sunny when southwest flows dominate like they have in the past few months.
Not sure I'd agree that Mangere and Akld Aero are less sunny in a SW flow. Quite the opposite in fact, particularly during the warmer months. Mangere's sunshine hours this Dec were actually 112% of normal and Nov 103% of normal. However Oct was 95% of normal, mainly due to a prolonged period NE'rs brought about by that stubborn cut-off low(s). Sunshine for the entire year was 106% of normal, with only 4 months being a little below normal.
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I'm suggesting the Waitemata harbour suburbs are sunnier than the Manakau harbour suburbs in southwest flow , my observation over 20 years. I consider southwest flow a good weather direction for Auckland in Summer but not so good weather direction in October/ November.
NE flow sees higher temps for the Manakau hbr suburbs not necessarily sunnier. NE flow tends to moist and can lead to cloud development over the land, ( heating, orographic and convergence)
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The national average temp of 15.6C was equal to the 1981-2010 December average.
The month's highest temp of 36.4C was recorded at Leeston on the 21st and the lowest of -0.7C was recorded at Hanmer Forest on the 7th.
Quite a few locations (incl. Sth Akld) recorded record or near-record low rainfalls. There were also quite a few record or near-record daily temps this December, especially on the 21st. And Dunedin recorded its sunniest December since records began in 1948 (not 1980 as stated).
The national average temp of 15.6C was equal to the 1981-2010 December average.
The month's highest temp of 36.4C was recorded at Leeston on the 21st and the lowest of -0.7C was recorded at Hanmer Forest on the 7th.
Quite a few locations (incl. Sth Akld) recorded record or near-record low rainfalls. There were also quite a few record or near-record daily temps this December, especially on the 21st. And Dunedin recorded its sunniest December since records began in 1948 (not 1980 as stated).
A couple of things to note: Blenheim's sun total does not include a Dec 31 reading and when I last checked Jan 1 was also missing. Unless the records were created but missed transmission this means 2015 will be incomplete in Cliflo, even though Blenheim surpassed Whakatane with a day to spare. Dunedin's total stretches credibility given its very long record - back to the 1910s for city sites.
