General January Weather

[Thunder]

the south island is almost cloudless right now

That's a nice satellite picture Salty, where did you get that one?

Cheers
Aaron

[Captain Salty]

http://www.goes.noaa.gov/sohemi/
updates every two hours (55min delay) or every hour around midday (I think)

[RWood]

24C, dewpoint 16C for Auckland this afternoon. some suburbs having a sunny day while others have plenty of cloud.

A poor January for Auckland with sunshine well down , the cloud cover helping keep temperatures cooler than normal also there has been a lack of airflow from warm origins. i don't think there has been much in the way of warm air from inland Australia reaching NZ this January.

You're not alone - our 50-hours deficit in December was followed by a 30-hour one in January. Drier than December as well, but still a little wetter than average. The 3rd consecutive summer with a significant sunshine deficit here is now inevitable (mind you there has been a run of sunny Marches) - even matching the alltime high Feb. value would leave us at -20!.

[RWood]

Another poor forecast from metservice again ended up 6C below forecast high in chch and 9C below in ashburton even had heavy rain for a while with a little thunder as well but none of this was in there forecast and the gusty NW was not to be seen.
Think its about time there funding was like the SPARK sports funding- dont perform then give it to someone else to have a go. Computers just arnt a forecast tool to place so much reliance on in my mind.

We'll hear from you I presume - in detail - about who is going to set up in the business and prove to be better - especially with respect to Canterbury forecasts. External assessment of course!

[Nev]

Got to 25.9C here yesterday. I see yesterday's 25.2C at Akld Aero was also its month's warmest-equal (with the day before). Hamilton Aero also had its warmest temp for the month of 25.1C on Monday.

Akld's average Jan T-mean has been nearly 1C below normal, with T-mins almost normal, but T-maxs well over 1C below normal. Similarly with Hamilton Aero; although T-mins were almost 1C above normal, T-maxs were almost 2C below normal. Contrastingly, Chch Aero's T-maxs were almost normal, but T-mins were over 2C below normal, resulting in a T-mean of over 1C below normal.

However, Chch and Dunedin have managed slightly above normal sunshine hours for the month, unlike their northern main-centre counterparts.

[Manukau heads obs]

yes, its been a striking lack of high temperature maximums for the upper NI for Jan

[David]

yes, its been a striking lack of high temperature maximums for the upper NI for Jan

Agreed, I recorded an average max of 22.5°C with the hottest day being 25.0°C on the 30th

Hamilton Aero also had its warmest temp for the month of 25.1C on Monday.

That's a surprise - thought Hamilton would have had several days 25C+ being inland!

[melja]

Another poor forecast from metservice again ended up 6C below forecast high in chch and 9C below in ashburton even had heavy rain for a while with a little thunder as well but none of this was in there forecast and the gusty NW was not to be seen.
Think its about time there funding was like the SPARK sports funding- dont perform then give it to someone else to have a go. Computers just arnt a forecast tool to place so much reliance on in my mind.

We'll hear from you I presume - in detail - about who is going to set up in the business and prove to be better - especially with respect to Canterbury forecasts. External assessment of course!

No RWood no detail from me sorry thats up to the govt to push for a shake up there.
Think they were 9C out again with there Max high again here today and just having a quick look around the Rain gauges on the coast and alps i think there rain warnings were well of the mark to over the last few days with places like inland hoki getting around 70mm for the event and 23mm in arthurs pass, hoki township had only 3mm yesturday and haast 18mm yesturday.

[RWood]

We'll hear from you I presume - in detail - about who is going to set up in the business and prove to be better - especially with respect to Canterbury forecasts. External assessment of course!

No RWood no detail from me sorry thats up to the govt to push for a shake up there.
Think they were 9C out again with there Max high again here today and just having a quick look around the Rain gauges on the coast and alps i think there rain warnings were well of the mark to over the last few days with places like inland hoki getting around 70mm for the event and 23mm in arthurs pass, hoki township had only 3mm yesturday and haast 18mm yesturday.

Yes, and guess what used to happen when rainfalls were forecast more conservatively - howls of protest if the forecast amounts were considerably exceeded.

I repeat my challenge - for someone to do forecasts for the whole country - not just one region - and demonstrate over a substantial period of time that they can do much better than MetService - no self-assessment allowed. I won't hold my breath.

[Manukau heads obs]

Phillip Duncan has added whole country forecast to weather watch center

[jamie]

yep that was a crap Jan. My max was 24.8. How pathetic is that? Usually we would get close to 30 on numerous occasions and even above 30. ive forgotten how i find how much below my Jan average i was. i used to be able to find it quick as but tonight i cant.

[Tornado Tim]

Phillip Duncan has added whole country forecast to weather watch center

Arnt the rest of the main center forecasts computer generated and not made by him, himself?
Thats what what I read on one of his blog posts.

[Manukau heads obs]

yup, I think so (via an overseas provider )