Scorcher possible Wednesday 11th Jan

Gary Roberts · Unread post by **Gary Roberts** » Sat 14/01/2006 23:01

NZ Thunderstorm Soc wrote:...the Wizard lives there now...

JohnGaul
NZTS

Seriously? I had no idea! He must be about the only 'celebrity' in town, besides the penguins. That's actually kind of cool.

RWood · Unread post by **RWood** » Sat 14/01/2006 23:04

My English-born (Lancashire) grandmother and her Oamaru-born husband lived in Oamaru for a few years - they didn't mind the cold at all, but she hated the northwesterly, and he didn't like it much either.

Gary Roberts · Unread post by **Gary Roberts** » Sat 14/01/2006 23:10

Foggy Hamilton wrote:The TV temps do do justice, there's nothing ever wrong with the readings from the MetService.

I don't even know where to begin!

Assuming the Met Service's numbers are always accurate, and TVNZ report those, would lead us to believe that TVNZ's weather reports can only ever be accurate too. Yet they aren't. They rarely ever are.

Applying the data from one locality to another locality simply because they lack data from the second is one issue I can think of. Another is terminology: who at TVNZ decides what a "light dusting of snow" is?

Perhaps if you're from Siberia anything less than a roof-crushing load may indicate the onset of Global Warming, but in NZ's High Country 40cm constitutes more than a "light dusting"...yet that's how TVNZ described it a year or two back.

RWood · Unread post by **RWood** » Sat 14/01/2006 23:16

My understanding is that TVNZ's temperature display contains quite a number from "optimistic" sites (in the sense earlier described by Gary). A good example is the Kapiti Coast in fine weather with an easterly/southeasterly component - the warming over more exposed places (in those conditions) is ridiculously exaggerated.

And why the stupid competition? Nothing can change the reality that NZ is in a changeable temperate zone, with a lot of maritime cloudiness - enjoy the good days!

NZ Thunderstorm Soc · Sat 14/01/2006 23:52

A lot of the West Coast temperatures are higher than what they say on the telly, but the West Coasters don't seem to mind what Karen, the Shirt or what Toni Marsh say

JohnGaul
NZTS

squid · Unread post by **squid** » Sun 15/01/2006 01:00

always back onto the female presenters sheesh keep it int the pants

tgsnoopy · Unread post by **tgsnoopy** » Sun 15/01/2006 09:14

Gary Roberts wrote:Where do you draw the line though tgsnoopy? Do we place a station in every yard and average them?

No, but it would be nice if the reading were representative of the temperatures the majority of people living in that area experienced.

That's all I'm saying on the subject.

Gary Roberts · Unread post by **Gary Roberts** » Sun 15/01/2006 13:14

tgsnoopy wrote:
Gary Roberts wrote:Where do you draw the line though tgsnoopy? Do we place a station in every yard and average them?
No, but it would be nice if the reading were representative of the temperatures the majority of people living in that area experienced.

That's all I'm saying on the subject.

It's a tough one I guess. If we're only interested in climate data comparisons then I think RWood is correct: reliable, longterm readings are the priority. It gets trickier when the goal is an accurate profile of local weather conditions, considering the size of modern metropolitan precints, and the diversity of the topography: it's especially difficult to provide the readings local populations expect when people's own perceptions are always miles out.

A guy I work with is hoping the new Vaisala station I'm installing at Twizel will finally wrest the highest daily temperature figures away from Andy and Alexandra. To me that is such a silly and trivial point of view, yet he's not alone in obsessing about his town's lack of representation on the TV weather. What they don't realise is that until the Met Service install a station Twizel still won't be represented on the TV weather. No matter what I do, or install, the data I collect won't be considered acceptable until it comes from the Met Service.

But still some people seem to think they'll sleep easier at night "knowing" they've won some kind of competition. Because of that I simply can't take the whole "our weather is much better than that!" attitude: the weather is what the weather is, and if readings and data are collected from the same kinds of places in each locality then at least there's some consistency. But then we'll here the "There's something wrong with the weather stations because our airport is much hotter than their airport!".

spwill · Unread post by **spwill** » Sun 15/01/2006 19:45

SouthEastern parts of NZ can get their high temp for the day at 10am before a cold change or for 30 mins while a NW blows through so TV temps can be misleading.

Flutterbye · Unread post by **Flutterbye** » Sun 15/01/2006 20:12

You are right - sometimes after a very warm day the temp may be in the low twenties after midnight but plummet at dawn with the rest of the day on say '17 degrees' but the twenties temp will be the one shown on TV. It probably happens a lot more than most realise - actually I've seen it happen here before.

Cheers
Lyn

NZ Thunderstorm Soc · Sun 15/01/2006 22:03

Flutterbye wrote:You are right - sometimes after a very warm day the temp may be in the low twenties after midnight but plummet at dawn with the rest of the day on say '17 degrees' but the twenties temp will be the one shown on TV. It probably happens a lot more than most realise - actually I've seen it happen here before.

Cheers
Lyn

Yes, I don't know if TV3 still do it but they used to show the current temps of the main towns and quite often Dunedin would be currently showing 2 or 3 degrees above the maximum for the day.

JohnGaul
NZTS

Fujita Phil · Unread post by **Fujita Phil** » Mon 16/01/2006 23:35

Gary Roberts wrote:
NZ Thunderstorm Soc wrote:...the Wizard lives there now...

JohnGaul
NZTS
Seriously? I had no idea! He must be about the only 'celebrity' in town, besides the penguins. That's actually kind of cool.

Well being born there and leaving at the age of 18 you "could" say that I was the only other Oamaru celebrity

I saw that weather station a few months back when I travelled through. Ironically I grew up 100m from that station and played in the reserve that it now stands in. It will miss a lot of the sea breeze being tucked in there for sure.

NZ Thunderstorm Soc · Tue 17/01/2006 19:14

Fujita Phil wrote:
Well being born there and leaving at the age of 18 you "could" say that I was the only other Oamaru celebrity

Janet Frame, the author came from Oamaru

JohnGaul
NZTS

Flutterbye · Unread post by **Flutterbye** » Tue 17/01/2006 21:48

Evening,

Hail & thunder on Sunday - A couple of hail showers yesterday morning then sunny afternoon - I recorded 19.4.

Today warm but a strong nnw wind and I recorded 24.8.

Tomorrow more hail & thunderstorms in the evening?????

Cheers
Lyn

NZ Thunderstorm Soc · Tue 17/01/2006 22:24

Flutterbye wrote:
Tomorrow more hail & thunderstorms in the evening?????

Cheers
Lyn

Some people get all the luck.

If it's not the north of the country, then it's the south

When will it end????

JohnGaul
NZTS

Flutterbye · Unread post by **Flutterbye** » Tue 17/01/2006 22:29

Never mind - I've got plenty of tasks indoors to keep me busy. Though not the computer if the tunderstorms arrive.

Have a good evening

Cheers
Lyn

TonyT · Unread post by **TonyT** » Tue 17/01/2006 23:39

NZ Thunderstorm Soc wrote: When will it end????

Quite soon if you believe this:

http://news.independent.co.uk/environme ... 338878.ece

Manukau heads obs · Wed 18/01/2006 10:21

seems a bit over the top if you ask me....
one minute it says gaia is widely accepted, then next that its increasing more becoming accepted

the bit about all the dust suddenly falling out of the atmosphere because of a large industrial down turn....does not sequence very well

nzmaninsydney · Unread post by **nzmaninsydney** » Mon 23/01/2006 10:27

I was in Sydney when it was 45oC, that was bloody hot man, the humidity made it much worse-went to the (air-conditioned) pub at 1pm with mates and stayed there until 10pm-a southerly change swept thru-dropped temperatures from 45oC to 19oC in 14 minutes! This was the biggest temperature drop in Sydney's weather history.

Was in Auckland for 2 weeks from 6th to 22nd Jan-weather was very good-only rained (actually showered) on 2 days-the rest of my holiday-the sun shone and shone-also noticed that it was very dry in Auckland-judging by the state of the grass. Day-time temps were quite warm and bit humid at times, night-times were much cooler and there was a lot of wind.

Saw on the news that it was 12oC in Invercargill (Sunday 16th Jan) with lots of heavy showers and hail along with SW gales. Sounds like the summers of 1981/1982 and 1982/1983. Noticed that Invercargill or Dunedin tended to be the coldest places in NZ (during my 2 week holiday).

For me-40oC is the limit for me-i can cope with temps up to 38 or 39 degrees (dont get that very often here in Sydney).

Flutterbye · Unread post by **Flutterbye** » Mon 23/01/2006 10:58

Morning

Yes we had nearly two weeks of rubbish but December was pretty warm which doesn't match the summers you mentioned. I think they were strong El Nino years weren't they? Warm yesterday and today we have wall to wall blue sky and at 10am it's was already 25 degrees in the city.

Cheers
Lyn

_______________________

If you saw a heat wave - would you wave back?

[/u]

RWood · Unread post by **RWood** » Mon 23/01/2006 14:25

There's no match at all to 1982-1983. There has been some commonality with 1981/1982 - in the case of December, the last one was wamer than the Dec 1981 case, and also a bit sunnier though still cloudy in many places. Jan has a fair resemblance to 1982 so far with sunny dry weather in most parts but wetter in south and west of South Is., and a fair bit of wind.

RWood · Unread post by **RWood** » Mon 23/01/2006 14:38

Conditions are still idyllic in Nelson - warm but not too "hot", plentiful sunshine. Great conditions at Pohara beach yesterday - water warm enough for softies like me. Brief phase of passing high/middle cloud and a light shower late afternoon on returning to Nelson, then fine clear evening with a picturesque sunset. As in many parts of NZ, things are looking very dry. Will post a few pictures later.

Meanwhile my home town may have had a bit of wind this month but has also clocked up 9.4 hrs of sun/day to 22nd.

spwill · Unread post by **spwill** » Mon 23/01/2006 14:45

nzmaninsydney said

Was in Auckland for 2 weeks from 6th to 22nd Jan-weather was very good-only

Auckland has a similar climate to coastal Sydney from Jan to April however by August the climates are very different, very wet and cool here, dry and warming up there.

Storm Struck · Unread post by **Storm Struck** » Mon 23/01/2006 15:39

Well i mean to say temperatures of almost daily averages into the mid twenties here and across many NZ regions is unusual indeed.
Temps are usually 18-21C under these NE fine conditions but have easily been making it over the 25C mark on most of these occasions.
Also much more NW days where temps have reached 30+C in some areas but this of course due to more W-NW winds with more rainfall in the farr south.

Fine and warm today with a breezy NE wind currently 26.2C

farmers will be looking for that rain later this week with fire risk now on high.
Cheers
Jason.

nzmaninsydney · Unread post by **nzmaninsydney** » Mon 23/01/2006 16:55

Invercargill's rainfall totals for 1981/1982/1983/1984:-

December 1981 152.0 mm
December 1982 128.0 mm
December 1983 161.0 mm
December 1984 101.0mm

Jan 1982 215.0 mm
Jan 1983 213.0 mm
Jan 1984 278.0mm

Those periods are associated with a strong El Nino weather pattern which saw a huge frequency of South-Westerlies than normal.

Already for January 2006- Invercargill has so far recorded 215.0mm and there's 8 more days to go-this is due to the higher than normal frequency of South-Westerlies.

Can see that its a lovely day down there-25 degrees at the moment with sunshine.

NZ Weather Forum

Scorcher possible Wednesday 11th Jan

45oC in Sydney on 1st Jan 06/Aucklands weather