General August Weather

[melja]

Still only 30h sun here in rangiora and just looking at the average temp so far for this month on my station its only 8.5C so no spring warming here.
These cloudy days are dam cold too with it being 5C now and thick cloud

[Michael]

Almost the opposite of last year here,may-july cold and frosty..this wet and warmer,august colder and wet,last year mild quite dry.

[cantygal]

Whereas last year, May to July was cold and wet and August was very mild with nor' westers over much of Canty.
I reckon this is the bleakest winter we've had for a few years.

[spwill]

rangiora my station its only 8.5C so no spring warming here.

My guess is this is warmer than normal for Rangiora, cloudier conditions in winter generally means a warmer average temperature.

August last year was the warmest on record for NZ.

[melja]

Yes looking at it its about 1C above normal
Looking at the august sunlight for the last 10 years it looks to range from about 187h to 126h this being the lowest but the average is around 150-160h so with only 33.1h for the MTD this is astonishing low.

[Michael]

a 1/3 of that must have been on your northwest day earlier in the month too so averages quite sparse.

Yes looking at it its about 1C above normal
Looking at the august sunlight for the last 10 years it looks to range from about 187h to 126h this being the lowest but the average is around 150-160h so with only 33.1h for the MTD this is astonishing low.

[CHCH Weather Chaser]

Model outputs for next saturday. Long way off as yet. but eek!

[David]

Weather this morning has been pretty miserable, brief showers coming and going. Seeing the yellow specks on the radar, I thought I could get some exercise and if it showered it would be light. But no....the rain poured down at Eastern Beach for at least 5 minutes. I got soaked

Looks like the sun is finally about to come out

[NZstorm]

Weather trying to brighten up. 16C. Will be good when August is behind us. Always the grotty month of the year for weather.

[RWood]

Yes looking at it its about 1C above normal
Looking at the august sunlight for the last 10 years it looks to range from about 187h to 126h this being the lowest but the average is around 150-160h so with only 33.1h for the MTD this is astonishing low.

For the first 19 days, the provisional totals for a few sites:

Rangiora 33.9
Ch'ch Aero 36.6
Akaroa 51.2
Waipara EWS 51.2
Ashburton Aero EWS 57.

All bad totals, but the EWSs have a recording advantage and are probably overstated relative to the other 2 sites.

You were probably due for a very cloudy August though - the Chc'h records show only one August since 1992 with a really significant deficiency, in 2004, and even that wasn't all that bad at 131 hours. On the other hand, 6 of the 7 Augusts from 1973-1979 were well below average.


Until this one, August hasn't been our "grotty" month here in recent years - every August since 1992 at or above average sun, most also drier than average.

Abnormally low totals of sun with only half of the month or so gone have can occur anywhere in any month - in Jan 1971, Blenheim (with a longterm mean of over 260 hours) had recorded only about 39 up to the 15th. Mediterranean, we ain't.

[Dean.]

Yes looking at it its about 1C above normal
Looking at the august sunlight for the last 10 years it looks to range from about 187h to 126h this being the lowest but the average is around 150-160h so with only 33.1h for the MTD this is astonishing low.

For the first 19 days, the provisional totals for a few sites:

Rangiora 33.9
Ch'ch Aero 36.6
Akaroa 51.2
Waipara EWS 51.2
Ashburton Aero EWS 57.

All bad totals, but the EWSs have a recording advantage and are probably overstated relative to the other 2 sites.

You were probably due for a very cloudy August though - the Chc'h records show only one August since 1992 with a really significant deficiency, in 2004, and even that wasn't all that bad at 131 hours. On the other hand, 6 of the 7 Augusts from 1973-1979 were well below average.

Until this one, August hasn't been our "grotty" month here in recent years - every August since 1992 at or above average sun, most also drier than average.

Abnormally low totals of sun with only half of the month or so gone have can occur anywhere in any month - in Jan 1971, Blenheim (with a longterm mean of over 260 hours) had recorded only about 39 up to the 15th. Mediterranean, we ain't.

The low cloud has cleared from areas further inland away from the coast on occasions in the past few weeks hence the slightly higher figures for here and Waipara

[Richard]

Model outputs for next saturday. Long way off as yet. but eek!

Wow and look where the fetch is coming from

[Michael]

Reckon october is grotty here weatherwise.

Will be good when August is behind us. Always the grotty month of the year for weather.

[Richard]

Model outputs for next saturday. Long way off as yet. but eek!

Wow and look where the fetch is coming from

Looking at The BOM site tonight there's a ominous looking area of development taking place in the Indian Ocean off the Western Australian coast,early sigh of a jet stream development maybe

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Looking at The BOM site tonight there's a ominous looking area of development taking place in the Indian Ocean off the Western Australian coast,early sigh of a jet stream development maybe

The more colourfull the ECMWF maps are, the more interesting the weather maybe, possibly storm wize, I reckon?

JohnGaul
NZThS

[Michael]

the surface ecmwf maps arnt very colourful,green and yellow on a brown/white background,the upper ones have more coour

[Michael]

Hoping to get some washing done but yes the showers have arrived and are set in.

[Tornado Tim]

Some very dark cloud bases atm.

The fire truck I dont own btw

[Manukau heads obs]

generating alot more wind power this august, with more trational W to WSW winds (last august was very light winds)
the backup diesel generator has not had to come on much this last week

[David]

I see Metservice are mentioning the chance of hail tomorrow for some of us in the north

[Tornado Tim]

That shower just past us and it contained a fair bit of rotation!
Striations (groves in clouds) were apparent too meaning there was a mesocyclone!

I will upload a movie soon, you can clearly see it rotating you can even the air moving down and around it!
but in the meantime here are some pics of the striations!

[iomkiwi]

I see Metservice are mentioning the chance of hail tomorrow for some of us in the north

There was hail in Kaikohe this morning at around 10am - Dad was talking on the phone to someone there when it happened.

[NZstorm]

Maybe a bit of a landspout trying to get going there Tim.

Midday sounding for Auckland shows relatively steep lapse rates. This type of sounding in late spring/summer would be good for popcorn cb's.

[Tornado Tim]

Videos now up: http://gallery.me.com/gunnimacman#100082

Sudden wind increase and a bit of baro drop occurred as it passed by

[03Stormchaser]

Nice photos there Tim, probably the only highlights from August across the country! Definite rotation there.