General September Weather

[Philip Duncan]

Alanta I think is where clear channel is(part owner of trn).

Yep, they own 50% of us - don't know if I'll be popping in to see them or not...only have 24 hours there.

[David]

Another brilliant day here, 7° start to 20° this afternoon

[Myself]

Amendment Jason - your July was significantly sunnier than average.

First 10 days of Sept gave us a lot of sun here, but today has been the 4th cloudy/overcast one of the 6 following.

100 hours in the first 13 days wasn't it? Not bad at all. Should easily reach average for the month even if we only creep along slowly.

[Michael]

Our cold winter was rather sunny here,lot more S unlike the year before was WNW was quite predominant though 08 was wetter.

[RWood]

Amendment Jason - your July was significantly sunnier than average.

First 10 days of Sept gave us a lot of sun here, but today has been the 4th cloudy/overcast one of the 6 following.

100 hours in the first 13 days wasn't it? Not bad at all. Should easily reach average for the month even if we only creep along slowly.

In fact it was 89.5 in 10 days, but 11, 12 and 14 had none, with not much today. I'm hoping for a return to the earlier conditions and a total well above average.

[Myself]

In fact it was 89.5 in 10 days, but 11, 12 and 14 had none, with not much today. I'm hoping for a return to the earlier conditions and a total well above average.

At the moment we're above average for the year, so could there be a chance of another ~2200 year? 2007 and 2008 both reached around 2200...is it rare for Wellington to get 3 years in a row reaching 2200 sunshine hours? It's a pretty impressive total considering our position.

[RWood]

In fact it was 89.5 in 10 days, but 11, 12 and 14 had none, with not much today. I'm hoping for a return to the earlier conditions and a total well above average.

At the moment we're above average for the year, so could there be a chance of another ~2200 year? 2007 and 2008 both reached around 2200...is it rare for Wellington to get 3 years in a row reaching 2200 sunshine hours? It's a pretty impressive total considering our position.

It's never happened, but 3 of the last 4 have been over 2200. The 30-year mean has been steadily rising and will cross 2100 this year. The average of the last 25 years (1984-2008) is 2126.

[Nev]

For those that haven't already seen it, thought this story from The Press might be of interest.
Below are just a few excerpts. It also has some comments from TonyT ...

Canterbury drought likely, say forecasters
Last updated 05:00 16/09/2009

...Barely any rain has fallen along the South Island's east coast this month, with only 0.2 millimetres recorded in Christchurch and none in Kaikoura and Oamaru. The dry start to September follows three months of below-average rainfall. Christchurch has had just 111.8mm of rain since June 1, about 100mm less than, and only 53 per cent of the long-term average.

...Timaru had its hottest September day in 124 years of records on Monday, when the temperature soared to 28.2 degrees Celsius, beating the previous highest September temperature of 26.4C, recorded last year. Other temperature records broken on Monday include Orari with 27.5C and Cromwell with 26C. Oamaru had its second-highest September maximum of 26.4C, as did Dunedin with 25.4C.

(full story...)

Note that Timaru's previous record should be 26.9°C (the 26.4°C was Timaru Aero's previous record).
And although it was only the second-highest max for Oamaru Aero, Oamaru Town still beat last year's Sep record of 25.3C with 26.1°C.

Edited typo.

[Michael]

Looks like an easterly surge for the weekend according to the metservice map.

[tgsnoopy]

Yes, fingers crossed

Severe Convection/Thunderstorm Outlook



Quietly trying to clear my afternoon

[Michael]

T/S often buildup over the eastern ranges from building cbs and glaciation can be seen(from the west) on those days.could be one of those days,currently its p.c with mid level stratocumulus (the clouds were moving in from the NW now the SW) but day heating looks likely.

[RWood]

At the moment we're above average for the year, so could there be a chance of another ~2200 year? 2007 and 2008 both reached around 2200...is it rare for Wellington to get 3 years in a row reaching 2200 sunshine hours? It's a pretty impressive total considering our position.

As a slight aside but on the general subject of sunshine, some explanation is needed as to why "current" totals at Martinborough are as low as they are. A manual site there recorded sunshine from 1968 to mid-1971, and annual totals were significantly higher than those at Wellington or Masterton, which is what I would expect. However both the manual and EWS sites used since 1986 have given consistently lower totals than Wellington. The EWS is supposed to have a good exposure.

[DT-NZ]

Stunning fog photos DT. That's exactly how Monday arvo's fog looked like from here! Many thanks.

Thank's Nev and also (apologies for posting this here, however, slow connection today (frustrating) a great timelapse Foggy (weather blog)

A great spring day with sunshine and light winds - currently 17.8 C out.

[DT-NZ]

Warming up slightly currently 21.5 °C out - just checked Alan's website (KWS) currently 20.2°C out - clouds starting to build up.

[David]

Surprised to get back home from the city this evening and see a high of 21.4°C recorded earlier in the day...it did not feel that warm at all in the city and I see Ricky's station only got 19.3°C. Perhaps more cloud in central areas - did notice a few darkish clouds hanging around at times.

[Michael]

Weve been honestly had a good run of stable weather of late,looks like a westerly flow will be established late next week.

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Weve been honestly had a good run of stable weather of late,looks like a westerly flow will be established late next week.

...so for here, more stable weather

JohnGaul
NZThS

[Michael]

Wouldnt be surprised if the airport is closed,such gusta fog here today,its mild with 11-12c.

[gllitz]

Interesting numbers showing up for the middle of next week from GFS model...cold blast on the way? ECMWF not showing it, though....

[Manukau heads obs]

seems next weeks pattern has been hard to pick for the models...they have been all over the place....yes latest gfs has a polar high budding off...and a cold southerly outbreak...

[NZstorm]

Not sure what to make of the latest GFS, I would discount it and see if the cold air is still there in the 00Z run.
Would be interesting for the South Island if it is.

Looks like a trough may spoil Auckland's weekend weather. Fog is lifting here now.

[Richard]

Will be interesting if we do get a southerly outbreak,been such a long time since the last one

[Storm Struck]

I seen that last night before doing my forecast on my site which i hadnt done in awhile.
It would be a good set up for thunderstorms and hail if it continues to predict this, and snow to low levels but very little precipitation would mean only light dustings.
NWer has been fair blowing out this way this morning, gusting up to gale force at times.
I even had to stack the patio chairs as they were being chucked around, still strong and blustery but not like it was from 7-9am.
Surposed to be showers later on with the SW change some heavy predicted by the MS, i think yesterday there was a low risk up havnt seen todays yet.
But that would make sense air today would be abit too dry for any significant convection.

[Dale]

Wouldnt be surprised if the airport is closed,such gusta fog here today,its mild with 11-12c.

What a snorter of a fog that was too!
About 11pm as I was locking down for the night for a few seconds I really did think the Bombays & most of Auckland had a power cut, just absolutely zero visibility & was much the same until just after 7am when it started to lift.
Havent seen one like that for a while

[CHCH Weather Chaser]

Very interesting to note that at the airport /metservice station they have been recording wind speeds of 44km/h and 52km/h NW over the past 2 hours. The maximum wind gust since midnight has been 37km/h here and only a very slight breeze over the last 2 hours. I would say gusting 20km/h at most. Up to 17 degrees here and thick high cloud.