General October Weather

[Richard]

Well and truly past 2mm here by now,heavy rain at the moment,big drops too.

[CHCH Weather Chaser]

Well and truly past 2mm here by now,heavy rain at the moment,big drops too.

1mm here and has now stopped. Yes you can see the radar has sparked into life through North Canty.

[Richard]

Two hours of steady rain now,maybe another half hour before it stops

[spwill]

I see sunshine hrs are well down across NZ for October.

An overcaste morning here , currently 17C, slightly humid with the dewpoint at 14C.

[RWood]

I see sunshine hrs are well down across NZ for October.

An overcaste morning here , currently 17C, slightly humid with the dewpoint at 14C.

Can you quote them please? Terrible total here so far, only 103.4 hours after 24 days. Lowest on record was 114, lowest in recent times was 125 in 2001. We'll be lucky to reach 130 unless Sunday and Monday give the tally a good boost.

[David]

An overcaste morning here , currently 17C, slightly humid with the dewpoint at 14C.

Sun finally broke through for a few minutes, and the temperature climbed to 19.2C here very quickly...
Btw, yesterday's 20.4C was the highest I've recorded for Spring so far. Sounds a bit pathetic, but haven't had any very warm days here yet.

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

wow i'll say,just had a look,the kids have just seen some big flashes out there bedroom windows,could be coming from that way maybe

Yes. There were flashes of lightning way to the west observed from here to be over TC way, late last night. I posted that plus on my weather blog but the interenet went off here so I lost the messages.

[Razor]

An interesting convergence line forming over southern christchurch right now

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

An interesting convergence line forming over southern christchurch right now

Yes noticed that heading into Hornby to do some shopping.
Nothing much happening to it possibly because the barometer is too high (1020hpa-ish)and it is not summery enough.
Few spits of drizzle here. It was NE now back to SE.

[NZstorm]

Should see some afternoon heat/convergence showers inland upper NI today, t/cu tops to 4500m. Maybe an isolated shower around Auckland.

[Manukau heads obs]

NW wind is easing here,.....so the frontal pressure is weakening away now making room for the NE change as the high builds in (the barometer is rising now)
so yes there will be a convergence form...

[CHCH Weather Chaser]

Looks to be a period of prolonged W to NWesters coming up for us Cantabs which will be great! Look forward to the nice warm weather after a horrible cloudy October. November seems to be looking far more promising!

[David]

Brilliant sunny day here, in contrast to yesterday's cloud. Max of 20.5 degrees for Howick (so far), even feels a little humid at times

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Looks to be a period of prolonged W to NWesters coming up for us Cantabs which will be great! Look forward to the nice warm weather after a horrible cloudy October. November seems to be looking far more promising!

Yet, summer looks to be hot with lots of drying out of what green pastures that we have at the moment. I don't mind the cloudy dull days.
I think a 40C day is possible again like last year in Feb

[jamie]

some dam good convection over hamilton at the moment. Amazing considering i was expecting nothing. could even hear thunder soon.

[Nev]

A few teasers from a follow up story about Monday's 'twisters' ? ...

'Queenstown man's tornado terror' - Moutain Scene
27 Oct 2011

A Queenstown restaurateur has told of the terrifying moment a massive tree crushed his car while he sped away from a “tornado”. Mark Jessop, 53, believes he and his two passengers are lucky to be alive after wild winds battered Queenstown on Monday. Jessop, who owns Tatler and Prime restaurants, was driving across Edith Cavell bridge over the Shotover River at Arthurs Point when he saw what he describes as a tornado racing towards them. ...

“A huge sort of tornado came down the gorge,” he says. “It was a massive circular vortex; a whole lot of water and stones and gravel and all sorts of stuff getting thrown up. “I was worried it was going to tip the car off the bridge if we were still on it. “It was so strong. The girls were screaming. I put my foot down and got to the other side and thought ‘Thank God for that’. Then we were hit.” ...

(full story)

Also for more pics see: 'Trail of destruction across district'

[RWood]

Looks to be a period of prolonged W to NWesters coming up for us Cantabs which will be great! Look forward to the nice warm weather after a horrible cloudy October. November seems to be looking far more promising!

Could someone please give me the Ch'ch sun for October to date from the Press? (should be current to yesterday = 26th). Record low for October is 142 hours (about 70% of average, which is quite "high" for a record low as a ratio).

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Could someone please give me the Ch'ch sun for October to date from the Press? (should be current to yesterday = 26th). Record low for October is 142 hours (about 70% of average, which is quite "high" for a record low as a ratio).

I'll check tomorrow.

[RWood]

Could someone please give me the Ch'ch sun for October to date from the Press? (should be current to yesterday = 26th). Record low for October is 142 hours (about 70% of average, which is quite "high" for a record low as a ratio).

I'll check tomorrow.

Thanks.

[spwill]

Sunshine hrs from the Herald up to Tuesday, Auckland 135.1, Wellington 104, Christchurch 105.1, Gisborne 155.4, NewPlymouth 124.,9, all below average.

I think the lighter westerlies and a more sluggish pattern has created the cloudier Oct for NZ with slower fronts and more onshore flow for eastern parts. There is a big contrast in weather between NW and E flow for eastern parts of the country and locations like Chch can really suffer in an unfavourable pattern, particularly temperature.

[RWood]

Sunshine hrs from the Herald up to Tuesday, Auckland 135.1, Wellington 104, Christchurch 105.1, Gisborne 155.4, NewPlymouth 124.,9, all below average.

I think the lighter westerlies and a more sluggish pattern has created the cloudier Oct for NZ with slower fronts and more onshore flow for eastern parts. There is a big contrast in weather between NW and E flow for eastern parts of the country and locations like Chch can really suffer in an unfavourable pattern, particularly temperature.

Thanks! Gisborne, BOP and the west of the South Island have not done as badly as most other parts. Wellington may not break a record as its record low was a very low 114 hours in 1951 (less than 60% of average) - but it may get 2nd lowest. The anticyclonic passage over the south/central has brought us virtually no sun in the last 2 days. On the other hand Ch'ch's record low is 142 (about 71% of average), so that may well fall.

[Nev]

Also worth noting that the SE of the S.I. has done fairly well, with Dunedin and Invercargill generally recording above average sunshine hours during the month.

[RWood]

Also worth noting that the SE of the S.I. has done fairly well, with Dunedin and Invercargill generally recording above average sunshine hours during the month.

According to Climate Explorer charts to the 27th (these may not be quite right of course), Invercargill is at 95-100% and Dunedin at 85-95%. There is a distortion on the upside of 100% at Balclutha, which is a regular feature of the data and maps, as the old manual site is not in great shape and its average is a bit lower than it should be, while its new site is an "optimistic" EWS whose values certainly look too high. Something similar applies at Franz Josef (the new EWS site is further from the divide than the old manual one, a "double hit" which makes comparison with the old averages meaningless).

[jamie]

Going to be in the Taihape area this weekend. Good spot to catch a severe thunderstorm tomorrow i think.

[NZstorm]

Going to be in the Taihape area this weekend. Good spot to catch a severe thunderstorm tomorrow i think.

Will be showers but not much of a ts set up.

Cloudy NE for Auckland. The NE can be a bit like a SW in reverse for Auckland. Moisture + inversion = anticyclonic gloom.