NZ Weather Forum

melja wrote:Another very cloudy month by the looks of it here in north canterbury with only 8 sun in the last 12days and total so far of 88h so far

Not including yesterday, both NIWA's Rangiora site and Chch Aero have recorded 11 hrs of sunshine over the last 12 days and 106 hrs so far this month (normal May total for Chch Aero is 142 hrs). Note that sunshine over the previous 3 months at Chch has been above normal.

Nev wrote:

melja wrote:Another very cloudy month by the looks of it here in north canterbury with only 8 sun in the last 12days and total so far of 88h so far

Not including yesterday, both NIWA's Rangiora site and Chch Aero have recorded 11 hrs of sunshine over the last 12 days and 106 hrs so far this month (normal May total for Chch Aero is 142 hrs). Note that sunshine over the previous 3 months at Chch has been above normal.

Wellington sunshine this month has stalled horribly after a very good start. Stuck at about 86 hours, average for last 25 years about 133. YTD has now dropped back below normal. A big comedown from 245 in March and a reasonable 162 or so in April. A dryish month has turned into a significantly wet one.

ours is about average plus ytd average say it will round off the month average or little above by 5-10% deviation.

amazing how heavy the showers are here today, for the depth of cloud above the showers!

I was wondering why the baro was dropping...see on the taranaki rain radar another low center to pass over the Kawhia area afternoon...

Nev wrote:

melja wrote:Another very cloudy month by the looks of it here in north canterbury with only 8 sun in the last 12days and total so far of 88h so far

Not including yesterday, both NIWA's Rangiora site and Chch Aero have recorded 11 hrs of sunshine over the last 12 days and 106 hrs so far this month (normal May total for Chch Aero is 142 hrs). Note that sunshine over the previous 3 months at Chch has been above normal.

Ok looks like 11h over the last 14days including today, with 8.3h of that on the 22nd and a whole 7days in a row including today with out 1 minute of sun. Also looks to be the second most cloudy month of any in the last 10 and a bit years of this station.
I think the distribution of the sun is more important than the monthly total as apart from april the other months this year had very long cloudy spells with next to no sun and the bulk of the sun all at once.

Can be seen easily on the metservice map,ie Hamilton N,Taupo NNE,New Plymouth SSE,Auckland W and Kaitaia SW.

I see that eastern OZ is getting good rain today....they have had a great autumn for rain over there

[quote="melja] I think the distribution of the sun is more important than the monthly total as apart from april the other months this year had very long cloudy spells with next to no sun and the bulk of the sun all at once.[/quote]

I think many have that preference, like our late Australian friend. However for a given total quota of sun, unless it's very high (when the question is pretty academic), the price for too even a distribution is a smaller number of fully sunny days. So I'm happy to tolerate some very dull ones in the mix if there's balance at the other end, because for me nothing beats a blue dome day. However given that, I agree that a "scattering" is better than an all-at-once setup.

Yay - no rain since 1400 today - temperature not going up much as fog has rolled in - could be fineish tomorrow

Cool 6.4°C here this morning and sunny. Metservice going for a low of 3 here tonight.

There's some,not a lot but blue sky never the less,the first for dam near a week,105mm over this past week

The NIwa May-July outlook for average to below average rainfall for NZ( for the period) looks well off track currently, they did pick the warmer weather for May but not the pattern. We have had regular Low development NW of NZ moving down onto us and little in the way of the Westerlies.

So often just after they release there projections ahead, the weather turns and does the opposite,i remember them saying it was going to stay dry through June,then weather turn stormy in July

Starting to get some blue sky here as well just stopped drizzling another 17mm since 2pm yesterday bringing the weekly total to 143mm.

The past 19 days here in Upper Hutt have ended in some form of rainfall to my gauge. Sunshine would cheer us up a great deal... Monday looks to be hopeful then more rain comes in from the north as cyclogenesis does its thing again..

Steve

There will be a good frost tonight if the fog stays away. Air temp already -1.2 degrees.

yes monday be your best day as showers retreat to the eastern hills and becomes fine,though high cloud should thicken monday night.

rawdon wrote:The past 19 days here in Upper Hutt have ended in some form of rainfall to my gauge. Sunshine would cheer us up a great deal... Monday looks to be hopeful then more rain comes in from the north as cyclogenesis does its thing again..

Steve

If this approaching system is able to be pushed a little further west then this upcoming subtropical low would be a real concern, the intensity of it is big! It seems to be quick moving and affecting only the north island, weather watch and metservice are saying low confidence for heavy rain for Canterbury but this close to the event I would say those watches in the outlook will diminish later today. Had the low travelled to the SW of the NI then a totally different story.

spwill wrote:The NIwa May-July outlook for average to below average rainfall for NZ( for the period) looks well off track currently, they did pick the warmer weather for May but not the pattern. We have had regular Low development NW of NZ moving down onto us and little in the way of the Westerlies.

Too early to call. Some clever character tried to imply the Jan-Mar forecast was going off the rails because of a spell of settled weather in February had stable anticyclonic systems over the South Island - but the north Tasman setup duly returned.

In the developing El Nino in 1991 March was dry and anticyclonic with light easterly anomalies - totally unlike the 3 months that preceded it, and the remaining months in 1991.

I did mention the outlook was for three months and not one, the spectacular May rainfall is certainly worthy of comment in relation to the outlook.

Some rainfall numbers for May from the Herald
Whangarei 200.2mm, Tauranga239.8, Whakatane 297.4, Rotorua 282.8, Newplymouth 216.2, Napier 204, Wellington 208.4, Dunedin 231.6mm.

Morning,

Rainfall total for May from here to date 114.6mm - view over DB area now - all thanks rusty anchor.

spwill wrote:Some rainfall numbers for May from the Herald
Whangarei 200.2mm, Tauranga239.8, Whakatane 297.4, Rotorua 282.8, Newplymouth 216.2, Napier 204, Wellington 208.4, Dunedin 231.6mm.

Wow, looks like Auckland wasn't really that wet afterall

I didnt think may was as wet as I remember some months can be,lots of (straight)easterlies as I noticed with the small willow leaves which stick like the proverbial in the wet this month,though the strangely the SW hasnt been around as much as I thought it normally would in may.