Warm and Dry for the East...Again

[CHCH Weather Chaser]

Yup and once again the metservice has got it wrong. "fine with northeasterlies developing". Its very dull, light southerly and this cloud if it clears wont be anytime soon. Just a few days ago we were looking into the 300 hours for sunshine and now we wont even get to the 288!

[RWood]

Sunny here after a rather dreary day yesterday. Only about average or a little above average sun here this month.

[CHCH Weather Chaser]

The sun is shining now and its clearing from the east around the hills so we should get a good 7 or 8 hours today hopefully and pray for 10 hours tomorrow.

[Nev]

That still won't quite do it. You'll need a total of at least 19 hrs today/tomorrow. Possible, but...?

About 260 hrs for Akld so far, so also already well above normal.

Mostly broken Cu-stratus here and about 22°C with fresh gusty SW'ers.
Perfect for the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series out on Auckland's Waitemata Harbour today.

[Myself]

Yup and once again the metservice has got it wrong. "fine with northeasterlies developing". Its very dull, light southerly and this cloud if it clears wont be anytime soon.

The sun is shining now and its clearing from the east around the hills so we should get a good 7 or 8 hours today hopefully and pray for 10 hours tomorrow.

....

So which is it?

NZCH reporting SCT021...so not ideal conditions to pick up many sunshine hours. Unless they pull a Whakatane special.

[CHCH Weather Chaser]

It was both. Its just overcast here again now but in the form of thick high cloud.

[Storm Struck]

It sounds like it is going to be a muggy day tomorrow with temperatures into the late twenties and scatterd heavy showers, thunderstorms will most likely occur more inland.
Sunday looks to be a better set up though with a colder surge coming up, just depends on heating and how much cloud cover will be about.
Plenty of mid to upper level cloud about today which is hindering those sunshine hours, but still a reasonably comfertable temperature.
Cheers
Jason.

[CHCH Weather Chaser]

Yeah there wont be any showers in Christchurch tomorrow it will be fine with a brief southerly. However, some heavy showers inland about the foothills and oslated thunderstorms. It is now quite heavily overcast YET AGAIN.

[CHCH Weather Chaser]

Extremely warm start to the day here with 26 degrees already and if we dont get a weak southerly or a northeast develop then mid 30's on the cards.

[Andy]

Just hitting 30 now in Bishopdale

[CHCH Weather Chaser]

Yup 30 degrees here now too just up the road in Hoonhay

[JP.]

Yea lovely sunny day.. I have a good mates outdoor wedding at the groynes today so I'm thinking light clothes now. Lucky its at 4:30 hopefully cooler by then.

Great day for a few beers in the sun

[CHCH Weather Chaser]

Yeah it sure will be JP! Not a breath of wind and now up to 31.4 degrees at jeffs and climbing.

Just as i say that the stupid NE is getting up and its dropped the temp to 30. I hate Northeasterlies!!!

[Storm Struck]

Except when we need the NE for thunderstorm development .
I dont think the NE will affect todays temperature from continuing on its climb, as its still going up here with a light NE and 31C.
I sure can feel that humidity alright up around 80%, so imagine what it will feel like when it reaches the mid 30's this afternoon.
Cheers
Jason.

[Michael]

I hate Northeasterlies!!!

Swap for our SW Deal?

[Myself]

Neither the Christchurch NE nor the Auckland SW can come anywhere close to comparing with the Wellington northerlies.

[Ryan Thomas]

80% humidty and 31 degrees? Thats impossible in New Zealand...

Bloody humid today tho.. compared to what we're used to hehehe

[spwill]

Bloody humid today tho

A small taste of what is normal for Auckland. Chch dewpoints over the past few days have been 12 to 14C , cool by Auckland standards, but as temps go up they become more noticeable. Auckland dewpoints today are 16C, high for us is above 18C.
The nice thing about humidity is it keeps the air warm in the evenings but can make the day uncomfortable.

[RWood]

Neither the Christchurch NE nor the Auckland SW can come anywhere close to comparing with the Wellington northerlies.

If you mean "unpleasantness" (as opposed to strength), I'd dispute that.

[TokWW]

Try walking down Lampton Quay towards the railway station in an autumn "northerly breeze" - you have to lean so far forward - broken umbrellas abound, and for days in a row, and sometimes with rain - that becomes unpleasant and annoying. I'm pretty sure you can get the same wind most seasons... they don't get the option of multi compass variations, it's either southerly or northerly.

[RWood]

Not very often at those strengths for "days in a row" these days - the dominance and persistence of such "northerlies" are less than they used to be. Wind isn't very important to me anyway, else I would probably not live here - but I will comment that the very persistent NE/ENE winds on the east coast of the S Island can feel very cold and annoying in their own way. I've had much less experience of Auckland SWers, but a week or so of them in Oct 1994 was most uninspiring - with some showers on almost every day as well. Certainly didn't feel warm, and so returning to the normally windy place I lived in at the time, high on W'gton's northern hills, in that kind of regime was a welcome relief - clear calm conditions in SW again, followed by anticyclonic NE. Not a majority situation to be sure, but to get away from any annoying winds in NZ you have to be well away from the coast in most parts of the country. My sampling of inland locations leads me to conclude that I don't think most of them compensate for lack of easy access to the coast - except for parts of the SI hinterland where the scenery makes up for it.

[RWood]

In addition - the so-called "2 flavours" of windflow here mask much more complexity - all the compass point wind directions leave a signature, but several of them produce only light breezes. A local weather enthusiast years ago divided so-called N/NW into about 5-6 categories, and similarly for southerly quarter flows.

[TokWW]

Thanks RWood, I guess the times I have been in Wellington and have had the northerlies or southerlies is because I remembered them then but not so well remembered or noticeable was the wind on the calm pleasant days or variable breeze days It's just that I have never read of you complaining about the Wellington northerlies!!

Getting away from the coasts - yes I still feel a huge reduction in windspeeds here in the Sth Waikato compared with the Sth Wairarapa coastline, or just inland one ridge broadside on to the southerlies off the Twin Kaikoura snow capped ranges...

[Myself]

Well, my feelings on the matter....

SW in Auckland may be annoying but it's not particularly gusty.
NE in Christchurch arises from a few different systems:
1) Offshore ridge -> purely maritime air, which means cold and annoying
2) Sea breeze -> purely maritime air, but it occurs when the temperature has already reached a pleasant level
3) NW aloft -> mixed foehn dried air and maritime air, not annoying at all because it gives the "warm northeasterly"

N/NW in Wellington arises from many different system:
1) Pure synoptic northerly flow -> warm, dry, lots of mid cloud and characteristic lenticulars. Some of Wellington's best weather comes from this, and wind is not too gusty. This is when Nelson gets pummeled with heavy rain.
2) NW ahead of front -> very gusty, and often drizzly, or at least predominantly cloudy (when ChCh is at least getting hot, dry conditions)
3) NW behind front -> Rare, but they do occur. It happens when a front passes through and is followed by a southwesterly flow, which is just too westerly for Wellington...therefore the wind "turns the corner" and we get gusty northwesterlies in a cold air mass. i.e. , very annoying
4) Summertime northerlies -> The biggest p*** take of all. This is where we suffer because the South Island (particularly Marlborough) gets too hot. A heat low kicks up, and Wellington gets gales in the Cook Strait, and gusts up to 70km/h in the city. It often is sunny, but also it often can kick up some cloud about the hills and ruin our day. The thing about this situation is that is prevents us from ever getting warm sunny weather. We can't get above 22C, whilst Marlborough and Canterbury will sail into the high 20s and early 30s (and then complain because they get northeasterlies).
5) Northerlies the day after a southerly change -> Gusty, cloudy, cold.
6) Northerlies in any synoptic westerly or westsouthwesterly flow -> Annoying, gusty, sometimes cloudy, sometimes not.

[RWood]

I would clarify some of that or differ slightly on one point. Your category (1) is really gradient NNE or NE, producing very light winds - or almost no wind at all. Generally warm, and on at least 80% (at my guess) of occasions when rain is forecast it is brief or doesn't happen at all until the gradient flow tends back towards N/NNW or thereabouts.

My experience of true postfrontal WSW is that almost no wind at all occurs, humidities are low and visibility is excellent. Very pleasant, just doesn't last long enough usually. And of course in a "critical" SW near true SW there is usually very little wind. The air mass may be quite cold, but it's barely moving. Similar things apply with flows from close to E/ENE.

The real point is how important this is in assessing any climate. There is no consensus at all on what constitutes a "good" climate. I would not trade our wind for stifling humidity, pollution or excessive cloudiness. I once met a guy who was living on a windy hill in Broadmeadows near us at the time - he came from the BOP and said he actually preferred the Wellington hill climate there (!!!) to the BOP, as he didn't like the latter's heat. Very few would agree with him I imagine. A late aunt of mine lived in various parts of the country including the Waikato and Central Otago, said she definitely preferred W'gton conditions - and meant it. It takes all types...not everyone cares if the temperature seldom gets above 25C, some greatly prefer it.

Those Canterbury lowlands easterlies don't have to be strong to provide a dreary day. A classic example occurred in Jan 1972 with a weak 1016 high over NZ and some return flow. Left sunny, warmish conditions in the Mackenzie to plunge into a massive cloudbank covering the entire Plains. Temp. only about 16C, faint but chilling ENE wind. The lack of sun was the worst part - I'd rather have a partly sunny day with a gusty W'gton NW over that anytime.