Southerlies

Archive of NZ Weather & Climate
Forum rules
These topics are a read-only archive and may be subject to out-of-date information.

For today's weather discussion head to: New Zealand Weather & Climate
sw_windbow
Posts: 241
Joined: Tue 13/06/2006 15:21
Location: Dunedin
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Southerlies

Unread post by sw_windbow »

Hello. I'm thinking about southerly air flows in the South Island. How do they differ from sou-westerlies. Is it to do with the part of the island you are in, for instance does a steady southerly flow that strikes the bottom of the island get shifted and turned into the dreaded Dunedin sou-wester? Or does the sou-wester begin well before the island? And also, in a typical year, how many pure southerly flows would hit the bottom of the S.I? :?
User avatar
Michael
Posts: 7210
Joined: Thu 27/03/2003 12:04
Location: Rainy Manurewa, Auckland - "City of Gales"
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 1 time
Contact:

Unread post by Michael »

A southerly affects the east coast but a SW blows it guts here and keeps the east coast clear and often the westcoast SI
NZ Thunderstorm Soc
Posts: 18488
Joined: Wed 12/03/2003 22:08
Location: Raukapuka Geraldine
Has thanked: 1769 times
Been thanked: 1412 times

Unread post by NZ Thunderstorm Soc »

The traditonal flow is the south-wester but then it can be tilted and deflected according to orographical landform.
Also, a low forming on a cold front moving up in a SW airstream, can tend the surface wind to a more southerly direction or even further around to a SE windflow.
JohnGaul
NZTS
Locked