General December Weather

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Should be a good week for inland afternoon/evening heat showers, thunderstorms on Wednesday and Thursday look more favourable and could be more widespread.
But a good week in the lead up to christmas none the less .

I wouldn't place my odds on that Jase. It's La Nina and you don't get thunderstorms in Canterbury in a La Nina period, sadly I would, however, love to be prooved wrong

[Michael]

David only had 1.6mm today? Its been bucketing down in the morning here though somewhat lighter after 1pm.Its been constant except an hour though its seems to have stopped for now.

[Nev]

I see Akld's max TV-temp (highest of 4 sites) was 15C, and 13C at Hamilton Aero.

Today will be one of the coldest December days on record for Auckland. Looks like our max could be just 14C. I had look back at the records for the last 20 years and no 14C days.

Yes, based on 24 hr readings to 9am the following morn, I think Mangere's lowest ever Dec T-max since records began in 1961 was 13.9C in 1964. Akld Aero's records start from 1966, with a lowest Dec T-max of 15.5C in 2004, so at least a record for that site. And Albert Park's lowest from 1930 to 1989 (although some readings may have been taken elsewhere) was 15.7C in 1930.

In contrast, last Dec's T-maxs never got below 20C at both Akld Aero and Mangere.

Also records for Hamilton by the looks. Since records began in 1972, the airport's previous lowest Dec T-max was 15.0C in 2004. And since 1940, Ruakura has 14.4C in 1941 as its lowest Dec T-max.

[David]

David only had 1.6mm today?

Yes it's been dry all day in Howick except for some light rain between 12pm and 2pm.

[Michael]

yes its begun here again though light now,this morning had to avoid the running puddles in manurewa.

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

It's cold down here too. The Temperature lept up to 15C before when the sun came through the clouds.
I thought it would be a cold day because of the lower location of the incoming anticyclone as shown on the forecasting models last week especially ECMWF

[Richard]

Should be a good week for inland afternoon/evening heat showers, thunderstorms on Wednesday and Thursday look more favourable and could be more widespread.
But a good week in the lead up to christmas none the less .

I wouldn't place my odds on that Jase. It's La Nina and you don't get thunderstorms in Canterbury in a La Nina period, sadly I would, however, love to be proved wrong

Yes i doubt that the eastern half of Canterbury Plains will get any convection showers during this upcoming period of high pressure,higher chance there maybe a few around my area though.
There's one spot 15km to my NW around the Mt Tekoa area which would be the Amuri's equivalent of John's thunderstorm alley,during periods of summer anticyclones its often an area where converging sea breezes meet,a NE over the Culverden area meeting south where i am.
So i'm quietly looking forward to this week coming even though the temps are going to be rather high.

[NZstorm]

The gfs doesn't handle moisture well in anticyclonic situations, inland when temperatures are high. So its not always a great model for forecasting storms in these situations. Just what I have found in the past anyway.

[bmo]

First time that we have lit the fire in December...only 12.5°c

[snowstormwatcher]

Got the fire going here too, Currently 8c with drizzle.
Looking like a mainly cloudy week coming up here. Will be fine over the other side of the pass at Tekapo.

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

First time that we have lit the fire in December...only 12.5°c

Had the fire going, here, the last 3 nights. Had to re-arrange the Christmas Decorations

[melja]

Yep same here, last 3 nights and all day sat.

[Michael]

My herald today shows auckland as 21.1c to 6pm yesterday I'm sure these must be saturdays figures or something.

[RWood]

Locally this has been an incredibly dreary month, though we had a fair amount of sun yesterday and today is brightening now. Sunshine MTD to Sat 17th is just 54.2 hours, (average 124) and the monthly record low of 149 is under threat (yearly total will almost certainly be the lowest since 1980, bar only 1992). A record already established is the lowest 14-day total ever recorded here (data from 1954 onwards) in the "summer" half of the year between equinoxes - just 16.9 hours for the 4th-17th.

[Nev]

Looks like temps around Akld just before 9am this morn were about a degree or so higher than yesterday's post 9am max-temps. However, Akld Aero's 15.3C this morn still managed to beat its previous lowest Dec daily T-max of 15.5C set in 2004. Mangere's 1964 record of 13.9C remains intact.

New low Dec daily T-maxs for Hamilton also. With just 13.9C yesterday, Hamilton Aero beat its previous record of 15.0C (2004), as did Ruakura with 13.1C beating its previous record of 14.4C (1941).

[CHCH Weather Chaser]

I am really hoping summer will start soon! We actually have some of the big yellow today! However, the SW breeze is nippy! Locally running at 1.6degrees colder than last year for the first 18 days of December. 12 of those 18 days not making it to 20 degrees. Off to Kaiteriteri on Boxing day for 2 weeks, it better be hot up there over that period!

[spwill]

Locally running at 1.6degrees colder than last year for the first 18 days of December.

Temps were well above average in December last year but this year December does feel cooler than usual.

For Chch the current pattern is tending to shut out the warm North Wester, for Auckland cloud cover has kept our daytime temps down.

[Storm Struck]

Late Wednesday and Thursday look more favourable for the inland heat showers and possible storms, of course always the chance some activity can spill east in the evenings.
I sure hope we get atleast one decent storm day this summer otherwise it will be a very depressing summer again storm wise anyway .

[Richard]

Summer resumes again today..thank goodness,cold start though 0.5deg
I see the MS forcasted highs for the next three days for Hanmer Springs are the same today and 1deg high than CHCH's Weds & Thursday Been paid professional forecasters they should be far more accurate than this,after all even people with limited understanding of weather know inland areas heat up during periods of summer high pressure, i think its down right hopeless that they will be as much as 10 deg out..........runt over

[Nev]

According to Climate Explorer, so far this month the average national temp appears to be at least 1C above normal, more so in the W and S of the S.I., the few cooler exceptions being coastal Hawkes Bay, the Wairarapa and S'ern Canty.

As of yesterday, Chch Aero's Dec mean-temp is about 0.7C below normal and Wgtn about 0.3C below normal. Dunedin is also about 0.2C below normal, as is Mangere (although Akld Aero is about 0.1C above normal); Hamilton about 0.4C above normal and Tauranga about 0.5C above normal.

Sunny and dry in the SW and S of the S.I., but very cloudy and wet for most of the rest of NZ - especially wet for Tasman/Nelson, the Waikato/BoP and Northland.

[spwill]

It would be interesting to know the average max and min temperatures to date around NZ.

Current Auckland dewpoint of 14C + afternoon seabreeze usually means a few small afternoon showers across the isthmus.

[NZstorm]

Latest model runs bring a low down from the north next week. On the distant horizon as far as modelling goes but something to watch out for.


Aucklands mean daily max (NZAA) last December was 23.6C. This December I doubt we have seen a temperature that warm, maybe on 1 day.

[Richard]

Didnt get as warm here as i thought it may have had with 22deg,still nice to have a sunny day with a fresh breeze from the SE .

Looking as though there's at least a week ahead of this high pressure,going by past summer high pressure systems i'm expecting that as each day passes the temps will climb,yay much swimming with the kids Hurunui river coming up

[snowstormwatcher]

Some good Cloud build ups around here today, One weak CB developed over the Fourpeaks range late afternoon but Sadly it didnt come to much.

Max of 21 degrees.

[Richard]

A real peasouper here this morning,a sign of a warm one coming up.