A Period of Hot, Dry Weather - Early January

[gllitz]

Possible that the high cloud will act as a "blanket" and not let the hot air dissipate this evening? If so...yuck...

[Razor]

Thats what I was wondering...and if it were to clear in the morning once the sun was up and into it???? Heavens!

[Nev]

The official temperature the metservice has recorded is 36 degrees so thats what will be showed on the news.

Yup, actually 35.7°C at Chch Aero (Weatherwatch) and 35.9°C near Chch Gardens? (City Council).
Spot-on there RWood with that typical 0.2°C difference!

[Compie]

http://dunedinweather.stroppykitten.com/weather.cgi

Good old stroppy kitten weather station is the closest to us on the Otago Peninsula.

After all day looking at CHCH roasting (would have loved that) someone has finally turned on the heater and we are now at 29. Typical pattern for Dunedin though, Nor Westers often build very late in the day. Going to be a warm evening, starting to regret that BBQ decision?

BTW hottest I've ever been in apart from those's 40°C+ days CHCH had in the 70s and the scorcers I've had in Twizel, it was 49°C and 11% humidity in Palm Springs, one and a half hours after splitting from a cold 14°C Los Angeles morning. Opening the car doors was like opening an oven door, I couldn't control the maniacal laughter.

[carrot]

I notice Gisborne too got warmer the last hour, now at 34 with the national high at the moment.

[Jac]

Yep unusually Gisborne has actually got warmer over the past hour or so, now sitting on 34, the warmest in NZ at the moment. However it looks like 3 News have already taken their maximum highs for the day, so on 3 the max for Gisborne will be 33 im guessing

[Tornado Tim]

Hardly any clouds actually in Hamilton atm I have a temp of 28 deg

[sw_windbow]

Its gone to 30.1 at the Otago Uni weather station which is the highest max since January 2004.

[mikestormchaser]

Boy sure has been a warm one alright, 31.2C now id say overnight temperature will be some where in the region 24-25C its certainly going to be a warm one.
Tomorrow expecting a S change with showers, id put out a low risk of storms for my liking

[Compie]

Ok that's weird.

West - Nor-Wester in full blow now, but Stroppy Kitten weather station not 3km from here is showing 17°C and we are still at 27°C. Some coastal wind sheer?

[Compie]

OK that is very weird. Other stations are showing a South East wind over Dunedin City, hence the 17-19 temps, while out on the Peninsula the wind is still very much strong westerly and easily 8-10 warmer. go figure. Has been that way for nearly an hour now. Who will win the battle south wind or the westerly, stay tuned.

You should see how nasty it looks down to the south. No wonder Stephen Fry is still stuck on Codfish Island (off stewart island) after filming.

[NZstorm]

Correct me if I am wrong, I have only had a quick glance but the last time Christchurch Airport got to 36C was 24 Mar 1998.

That was a spectacular burst of lightning over the SSW of the SI today, convection was help along by very strong upper level flow i'm sure, 500mb wind was around 80kts on the GFS.

[Compie]

Well it only took a little over an hour after the city cooled down (not 3km away) but we too are getting the cooler SE wind. Typical dunners, exceeding scottish - very hot for mere hours and then back to normal (wouldn't want to enjoy ourselves now would we).

[Nev]

Correct me if I am wrong, I have only had a quick glance but the last time Christchurch Airport got to 36C was 24 Mar 1998.

Looks about right - 35.9°C for Mar 24, 1998 to be exact. I think today's 35.7°C might also be the 5th highest ever temp for Chch Aero since records began 54 years ago and the second highest Jan temp (35.9°C on Jan 21, 1979 being the highest).

[Razor]

Unreal, just coming up 10pm and still 28 degrees. Jeffs one day old average temp record will be updated in 2 hours time....

[carrot]

Too hot to sleep... ugh.
My room is so hot. It must be atleast 30 inside ( definitley hotter than outside )
It even felt hotter in my room during the day and it just raised a degree in ten minutes with the return of the light NW winds
The mercury is going the wrong way. Im sure it can't last long though.

[Compie]

2am and NW kicked back in, the winds up and the temp is going back up too. Back over 22c here.

[tgsnoopy]

Seemed just as hot as an Aussie night here last night.

23.1 inside and 19.7 out when I got up. I can't measure the humidity, but it's high 80%+ at a guess.

Yuk, hope this doesn't last much longer.

[CHCH Weather Chaser]

Overnight low if 19 at the airport SO very warm indeed. Currently 23 degrees but plenty of high cloud today so temperatures should be warm rather than hot. Probably something between 28-31 im guessing.

[NZstorm]

I can't measure the humidity, but it's high 80%+ at a guess.

Should be a warm humid day.

GFS shows upper level temps cooling tomorrow with that weak trough coming in so afternoon convection looks on the cards over the North Island.

[Tornado Tim]

Yes It looks really good for Waikato today for some storms to start.
GFS points to a 220 j/kg of CAPE and Lifted Index 0, Brilliant and Dew points 18-19 deg C.
Nice
Hopefully something happens today then I can have something to document.
24 deg C here atm.

[Compie]

Yikes already 24 here, that was a hot night as you are all saying. It's going to be dramatic when the southerly comes through at some stage.

What about the tornado taking the rook off the pub in central yesterday.

[CHCH Weather Chaser]

Looking at the Metservice 7 day maps the Southerly change seems like bringing less and less rain now. Maybe just morning showers rather than rain for Christchurch tomorrow and then looking good all next week

[spwill]

There will be low cloud/some drizzle along East coasts (at least night and morning) into early next week . Early next week should be Fine for Auckland but an upper trough may generate an afternoon shower or two.

[CHCH Weather Chaser]

The temperture has not risen in the last 2 hours and its still steady around 23 degrees. The reason for this is thick high cloud and the wind direction is a very light Northeast at the moment so maybe we wont get above 25 or 26 with the conditions as they are.