Spring Westerlies

[jrj]

Um, don't think daylight saving has any effect on the weather

[Myself]

Um, don't think daylight saving has any effect on the weather

That's just Michael He thinks that almost every day in Spring is wet, windy and cold. I agree last October was pretty bad, but I don't think it's fair to completely write off an entire season to one weather pattern- unless it's an exceptional year.

[Nev]

Plus the fact that as of last year daylight saving started a week earlier than it used to.

And according to NIWA, so far this century in Auckland, both October average T-means and average T-maxs have all been higher than their respective Septembers.

[David]

In October 2006 I recorded an average daily high of 17.6oC, following a September with an average daily high of 17.7oC. But, the average temperature in general was higher for October.

December is the worst month to worry about as a write-off after this happened twice recently in 2004 and 2006.

[Philip Duncan]

Last two octobers have been incredibly stormy here in Auckland ... unsure about this year (from an Auckland point of view anyway)...seems like a lot of high air pressure up here...but further south could be in for a rough one. Gotta love this season!

Phil
http://www.weatherwatch.co.nz

[tich]

Came back from peninsula late this afternoon (couldn't access internet out there, so couldn't see radars) - some strong gusts last night, but don't think thunderstorms came anywhere close.

[Storm Struck]

Might be a simular day to Sunday with those spill over showers this evening, not quite sure why MS dont have a thunder risk up for the west coast perhaps because the main front that affects the south island is a warm front.
Sure will be some gales though to blow all that wonderful pollen around and unfortunatly partially strip the cherry blossums etc.
Cheers
Jason.

[Storm Struck]

The roaring forties have arrived with gusts peaking on gale force here before causing a stir in the pollen infested air.
Usual first belt of wind hiss and roar then calms down before it picks up again for the rest of the day.
21C and rising .
Cheers
Jason.

[Manukau heads obs]

yes, this station shows its getting windy and warm in canty:
http://www.delgary.net.nz/

[Storm Struck]

Just going through some models which suggest a possible low system crossing the south island this weekend down to around 990hpa and some reasonable rainfall totals.
Latest model run for Metrogram is showing some low numbers for early next week, but thats abit of a long shot I would think at this point.
Cheers
Jason.

[Nev]

...with gusts peaking on gale force here...

Huh? What does that mean?

[Philip Duncan]

Oh no not this arguement again Nev!!

[Nev]

I'm genuinely confused Phil. Did winds in Kaiapoi reach gale-force, or was it just the gusts that reached 63 km/h?

Plus we also criticise the media for the same confusion...

[Nev]

I hit 20.0°C here on Waiheke about 30 mins ago, but temps now seem to be plummeting fast...

[Janos]

A blustery 26deg in Dunedin at the moment.

[southernthrash]

Yep a mighty spring NWer in Dunedin. I actually find such conditions rather uncomfortable. Max gust of 80.1 at the University at 14:24.

[Nev]

According to 'more reputable' media reports, MetService said a gust of 148 km/h was recorded inland from Gore earlier today.

[southernthrash]

I don't doubt that at all.

[Myself]

I suspect that was Mid Dome.

[Ryan Thomas]

"Unfortunately Mt Hutt is CLOSED today due to severe gale force winds. At 5:45am the average wind speed on the ridgeline is 140km/h, gusts are reaching over 190km/h and the forecast is for the wind to increase through the day"

Why don't we hear about this on stuff / the news? Also extremely cold temperatures in the skifields that are out of the ordinary..

[Vertigo]

crikey! look at the isobars!

[Philip Duncan]

Ryan we have it in our news upate at 3:45pm and it was sent to most of the media too - but it wasn't picked up for some reason - probably too much news at parliament today!!

[Nev]

Thanks for clarifying that Ryan. Phil actually has winds of 190km/h at Mt Hutt, not gusts. So it's hard to know what to believe on Weather-Watch.

Yes, according to TV1, Mid Dome had the top 'official' gust of 181 km/h, which I think is less than 70km NW of Gore (albeit somewhat higher).

[Ryan Thomas]

Oh yes, was that 27 in Timaru a spring record in NZ?

[Storm Struck]

Lightning being observed to the west right now getting quite active along the alps and west coast most it has been all day.
Clouds gradually spilling further eastwards so it should be raining soon enough .
Cheers
Jason.