Spring like NW/SW flow from Mid July- Early August!!

[gllitz]

...but remember....one of the biggest snowfalls in Canty happened in August!

[CHCH Weather Chaser]

Yup Sure looks that way too! Will get warmer as the week goes on. The sooner that fresh strong NE we now have out there turns NW the better! The weekend looks warm as well! Mid-late teens! Maybe some brief spill over rain from the ranges at times on Tues night and Wednesday. Westcoast of South Island should see a series of fronts , almost in a 'play rewind play rewind' sort of system. The last 2 months has consistently seen Christchurch miss out on rain due to SE sheltering the city and almost all southerlies passing to the east out at sea. Winter definately seems on the way out. Im sure there will be one or two more significant polar blasts before October but Warmer temps and longer days are certainly more evident. Even if we did start at -4 here this morning!

[Storm Struck]

Yeah what happened to NIWA's prediction of a wetter 3 months in the south and east of the South Island, with a continued SE flow.
Looks like this NW/SW flow is here with us for awhile and that high over Australia isnt budging either, giving New Zealand a runway of fronts and troughs from the west.
Milder days ahead certainly which will continue to help those spring bulbs to pop up, but also at times it might be more westerly and a little cooler.
Things start to get abit more vigorous towards the weekend by the looks with those bombardments.
Certainly a lead up to a polar outbreak surly after such a mild week ahead .
Remember Mark August is generally regarded as the stormiest month of winter, and also remember the city can still get snowfalls right out until atleast the end of October at a safe bet.
Last years fall in November was unusual for sure.

[melja]

I see you guys in chch have around 7C and a NE blowing while i have no wind and its -1C here in rangiora and it has been since 7pm, even 6C and blowing at sefton just 5mins up the road- strange how you can get pockets of such different weather so close to each other

[spwill]

what happened to NIWA's prediction of a wetter 3 months in the south and east of the South Island, with a continued SE flow.

Yes, this pattern might be over now with the arrival of the westerlies so perhaps drier and milder for Canterbury generally now.

[melja]

-4.5C was the low overnight here in rangiora at 5:45am and now we are on -3C

[Richard]

With a developing El Nino i would tend to think about the spring westerlies would arrive earlier

[NZstorm]

Yes, this pattern might be over now with the arrival of the westerlies

yes there has been a pattern change alright. Spring 2009 should be dominated by stronger than normal troughy westerlies, hopefully Aucklands weather is not too rough.

[jamie]

looks and feels very spring like in auckland today

EDIT: i take that back... now its just dull and overcast

[mattyj46]

Has been a good few days in Invercargill, nice mild temps, little rain, makes a good change from last week.

[Storm Struck]

I Doubt we will be dropping much overnight tonight with that scrappy high cloud and a nice wee arch on sunset.
Dont quite understand why MS are going for highs of only 14C over the next 4-5 days, Tomorrow sounds more like that temperature with generally a westerly flow so abit cooler.
But other days i would think 15-17C like last week did really.
A fair way out but this has popped up on the WZ GFS model run tonight.
http://www.weatherzone.com.au/models/in ... 8&focus=mh
Looks like a developing low to the North of the North Island there, depending on how well the high over Australia gets wedged and the other two lows apon positioning it could be a rough set up for the country.
Food for thought anyway .

[Storm Struck]

What a stunner of a day it is today, suns out and certainly feels more like a spring day than winter.
14C currently with very light winds, got several spring bulbs coming up now which is always nice to see.
MS have a strong wind warning out for tomorrow especially inland, this may see the temperature up to 18-19C tomorrow i reackon and certainly not impossible.
I remember back in 2004 August we had a NW day and the temperature reached 22C.
I will fix the topic title so people dont think this thread is over, instead of posting in the general section.

[Richard]

A stunner here also with 12C and a 40km NW,last night low was 8C

[CHCH Weather Chaser]

Yes, continues to be a stunner. However slight ENE breeze, only gentle though. Very good effort to be on 14 degrees with an ENE. NW kicks in may get to 16 or 17 today and yes 20 degrees at some stage over the next few days in some places not unrealistic at all!

[tich]

I remember back in 2004 August we had a NW day and the temperature reached 22C.

And then in the 2nd half of the month, we had 2 very cold southerly outbreaks, with heavy snow in the city during the 1st one.

[Richard]

Exactly why we shouldnt think its all down hill now till spring,but just enjoy it while it lasts i say

[MoorfNZ]

Nor'wester is raging outside now - started about one hour ago. Some very large gusts indeed. Warm though!

[Richard]

Very little Nor'wester here...yet,considering its supposed to have start hollowing from about now

[NZstorm]

Looks like quite a robust trough crossing the North Island later Saturday (according to gfs) so looks to be a thunder risk/hail for northerners.

[Janos]

Huge NW gusts here...13.4degs when i got up...and still July...

[Storm Struck]

Hardly a breath of wind here just a very breezy N-NW wind, dunno where these strong winds are.
Currently 13C and slowly warming up, sunshine hasnt made a full appearance here yet, looks like it has in Christchurch though.

[CHCH Weather Chaser]

Very nice outside now as thick morning high cloud is burning off and the sun has came out in past half hour. Very gentle ENE still no norwester yet, i think from early afternoon we will see the Gusty NW kick in (the front seems to be more delayed that though) and now up to 14 degrees. 17 or 18 degrees on the cards today once the NW takes over

Have now reached 19 degrees with NNW breeze

[Storm Struck]

Yes temperature slowly getting up there now, 18C here but still hardly any wind.
Lots of scatterd cloud spilling from the west though, and can tell that the rain is building over the Alps.

[CHCH Weather Chaser]

18 degrees now and wind speed of 52km/h westerly according to the airport reading at 2pm. Gusting to 30km/h where I am consistently and max gust of 41km/h so typical gusty NW for CHCH but nothing out of the ordinary. The wind is more WNW now and 18 degrees.

[Storm Struck]

Slightly stronger breeze here now but nothing major as yet, not even 30kmh.
Sounds like the wind is causing a few problems near Timaru as of the last hour, with rather big gusts reported there on the radio before.
Reached 20C just after 2pm briefly before dropping back to 18C as the sun went behind some upper high cloud.
Anyone know what the July highest temperature record is?, as i said the other day i know in August 2004 we had 22C.