Thought i would start a summary for once.
It was i would say average rainfall for Canterbury with 78mm clocked up since the 1st, although some other areas such as north canterbury may have got more from the snowfall around mid October.
Definatly cooler and cloudier than normal , but less frosts meant for usual daytime temperatures.
Generally the winds were fairly moderate with a prolonged trough system for a good chunk of October, apart from the gale southerlies just a few days ago here.
I think it was at the start of this month that the north and west of the North Island had an active period of thunderstorms if i am correct .
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Averages\Extremes for the month of October 2009
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Average temperature = 12.3°C
Average humidity = 81%
Average dewpoint = 8.9°C
Average barometer = 1012.4 mb
Average windspeed = 5.5 km/h
Average gustspeed = 8.8 km/h
Average direction = 258° (WSW)
Rainfall for month = 134.4 mm
Rainfall for year = 1054.6 mm
Maximum rain per minute = 3.4 mm on day 15 at time 06:00
Maximum temperature = 22.6°C on day 17 at time 13:17
Minimum temperature = 1.0°C on day 11 at time 07:02
Maximum humidity = 100% on day 26 at time 08:28
Minimum humidity = 36% on day 29 at time 16:43
Maximum dewpoint = 16.5°C on day 15 at time 13:57
Minimum dewpoint = 0.2°C on day 29 at time 17:22
Maximum pressure = 1024.5 mb on day 31 at time 10:25
Minimum pressure = 991.0 mb on day 09 at time 22:43
Maximum windspeed = 33.3 kmh from 023°(NNE) on day 04 at time 14:13
Maximum gust speed = 48.1 km/h from 00°( N ) on day 04 at time 14:38
Maximum heat index = 26.2°C on day 30 at time 15:34
Avg daily max temp :18.3°C
Avg daily min temp :6.2°C
Growing degrees days :133.5 GDD
Total windrun = 4074.5km
Yes, it's certainly been a much a cooler than normal month for almost the entire country, especially in eastern areas of the South Island and the lower North Island. The average temp for Chch Aero looks to be about 2.2°C cooler than normal, 1.7°C cooler for Akld, Mangere (although only 1°C cooler for Akld Aero) and roughly around 1.5°C cooler for Wgtn, Dunedin and Tauranga, with Hamilton about 0.7°C cooler.
Wgtn looks to be by far the wettest main centre - all the other main centres with above or well above normal rainfall except for Dunedin. Sunshine above normal for Chch (and N Canterbury), a little below normal for Wgtn and about normal for the others.
Oct 5th looks like being Akld's coldest Oct max-temp on record, despite that reading being taken pre 9am the following morn. Btw, does anyone have a copy of Tuesday the 6th's NZ Herald? Their previous day's T-max for Akld Aero should be taken prior to 6pm (around 9°C).
Any details about Westland especially south of Buller? They must have had one of their most sunny/settled Octobers.Yes the 6th has 6.2/12.4,I think the 12 was during the night before the day of the 5th as it only got to around 10 that day.
...The October mean temperature of 10.7C was 1.4C below average making it the coldest October since 1982, climate scientist Jim Salinger has calculated. The heavy snow that trapped motorists and surprised Hawkes Bay farmers on October 4 and 5 was the latest spring snow of its kind to hit the North Island since 1951, he said. Dr Salinger, a former Niwa scientist who now works as a climate expert for farmers' pay channel Country 99 TV, said October was very wet in Gisborne and Hawkes Bay - with each recording twice the usual rainfall for the month - while the South Island's West Coast got only half of its usual dose of rain.
...The topsy-turvy weather began in May, which was the coldest recorded in many parts of New Zealand, with temperatures more like the beginning of winter than the end of spring. June was also colder than normal before temperatures returned closer to normal in July. Then came August - the warmest New Zealand has seen since temperatures were first recorded 155 years ago - with an average temperature almost 2C warmer than usual at a spring-like 10.4C. [Note that NIWA's August 2009 national mean-temp was actually 10.2°C and 1.7°C above average].
...The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric research (NIWA) had to go back 64 years in the record books to find a chillier one. ...It was so cold that the average temperature for the month was a shivery 10.6 degrees, one and a half degrees below the October norm. Its something the nation has not experienced since 1945.
..."We've had a month of southerlies, just sheer cold southerlies and a couple of unseasonable late snowfalls," says NIWA spokesperson Georgina Griffiths. ..."In all but the far north, actually Northland, Auckland extremely cold, record cold or near record October temperatures throughout New Zealand," says Griffiths. But NIWA says over the next three months normal temperatures will return to most parts of the country although the South Island could still be a bit chilly.
Michael wrote:Any details about Westland especially south of Buller? They must have had one of their most sunny/settled Octobers.Yes the 6th has 6.2/12.4,I think the 12 was during the night before the day of the 5th as it only got to around 10 that day.
Over in the Buller last week - talking to family based at Charleston - certainly warmer and drier than normal - old saying - if whitebait season is good weatherwise, then it will rain from the end of the season until Christmas.
Moving over the hill to Westport next January, so will be able to file more detailed reports - will miss the snow excitement during the winter tho!
It was the coldest October in 64 years (since 1945), with a national average temperature of 10.6°C (1.4°C below the long-term October average). Such a cold October has occurred only four times in the past 100 years.
The highest temperature was 24.3°C recorded at Whangarei on the 17th. The lowest temperature of -5.5°C was recorded at Ranfurly on the 5th.
October temperatures were the lowest on record for Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin; were well below average in Auckland, below average in Hamilton, and near normal in Tauranga. Monthly rainfalls were well above normal for all of the main centres except Dunedin (with below normal rainfall). Sunshine totals for October were near normal in all main centres except for Christchurch, which experienced 219 hours of bright sunshine in October. Of the six main centres, Tauranga was the warmest, Wellington the wettest, Dunedin the coolest and driest, and Christchurch the sunniest.
October sunshine totals were well above normal (more than 125 percent of normal) on the West Coast and in Fiordland. It was the second sunniest October at Greymouth in over 60 years, with a whopping 233 hours of bright sunshine.
On the day in question I noticed on Rickys Grey Lynn site a max daytime temperature of 8.9C. I reckon that would be one of the coldest daytime maximums ever recorded by an Auckland weather station, for any month of the year.
I noticed NIWA are calling it the coldest October in 64 years while Jim Salinger was saying 25 years!
The NIWA summary will be using the NZ temperature series as a basis for comparison (as posted earlier in the year) while it's possible Salinger and possibly others (who cited the month as the coldest since 1982) may be using a
larger set of stations. So there may be no genuine discrepancy. I want to confirm that Kelburn's value was a record low, ie lower than 1945 but am out of the country at present.
I think Jim Salinger's national Oct mean-temp of 10.7°C probably was the coldest since 1982. However, for NIWA's mean-temp of 10.6°C you probably would have to go back to 1945.
Also, you're suspicions seem well founded RWood - 10.4°C would be Kelburn's 3rd-equal lowest Oct mean-team (10.1°C in 1945 and 10.3°C in 1930). It was however Chch Gardens lowest Oct mean-temp (in 145 years of records) and Musselburgh's coldest-equal with 1976, although Chch Aero and Dunedin Aero were both 0.2°C cooler in 1976.
Also thanks Steven - Ricky's Grey Lynn max-temp of 8.9°C sounds about right for the 24 hours to midnight on the 5th (note that Ricky's T-max of 10.2°C was recorded at 9am the following morn). MetService also had a rounded 9°C for Akld Aero for the 24 hour period to midnight. The 5th was one of those rare occasions when the calendar-day for Akld was colder than both the following morning and the previous evening, i.e. NIWA's 10.6°C (24 hrs to 9am) for Akld Aero was recorded just before 9am on the 6th and the NZ Herald's 12.4°C (24 hrs to 6pm) was recorded just after 6pm on the 4th (temps began diving mid-afternoon on the 4th with the S'erly change and by midnight they were down to around 8°C).
Thanks Nev, I thought my memory wasn't playing tricks on me. I am in Brazil - last Sunday in Rio it was about 31C max in parts, despite overcast skies and afternoon rain. Large parade and party on Copacabana - would have been even larger if the day had been fine - gay pride parade and lots of other partying people, no overt drunkenness and trouble that we could see. Takes some getting used to the warmth after NZ's October. The sun will be directly overhead at zenith in the Brasilia region by about the 12th so it has to be respected, even though the savannah wet season guarantees a lot of cloud on the average day.
the NZ Herald's 12.4°C (24 hrs to 6pm) was recorded just after 6pm on the 4th (temps began diving mid-afternoon on the 4th with the S'erly change and by midnight they were down to around 8°C).
Akld Aero Metars don't seem to agree with your recollections?
Below are obs c/o NIWA which are a little more detailed than the Metars and confirm that Akld Aero's max-temp for the 24 hours to midnight on the 5th was exactly 9.0°C.
I remember October 1982 in Rotorua - even up there it was a cold, wet month with late snow on the hills mid month and then the big Labour Weekend storm with snowstorms on the central plateau. At least in the east of the South Island, the high rainfall ended a prolonged drought.
Although cold, Oct 1982 was not a bad month for Wellington because of the SW orientation, and it was quite sunny with some brilliantly clear days. On the other hand the extremely windy westerlies of November spoilt the mildness of the November that followed, and it was also cloudy there.
November was good in 82,December that year was just plain wet and cold I remember then Jan Feb 83 were cbs against blue backrounds then clear blue sky,hail,sun,gales then calm and repeated for 2 solid months.
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looks like my error. I had looked at Greylynn but that location can be cooler than the Airport at night.
