Frosts 2013

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Frost here this morning, the first for the year.
Down to minus 0.8C. with some frost-burn on the top of some plants.

[Orion]

Swirling patterns of ice on the car this morning, despite +3.2 degrees and breezy at present.

[Richard]

just on zero air temp here with the gauge saying its plus one ground temp,first time ive seen it the other way round,must be due to a week of warm weather

[Andy]

-4 air frost here.

[Nev]

Ranfurly down to -6C this morn and Chch Aero to -1.3C according to MS.

[melja]

Twizel was -5.5C when I looked not sure if it got any colder, those sure are cold temps for this time of year I would think?

[Bradley]

Where did you get that Twizel information melja?

[melja]

Pukaki airfield station, its a M/S one and only less than 1km from twizel at the same altitude.

http://www.airportpukaki.co.nz/LiveAirportWeather

-1.2 now with a 9 knot wind so good wind chill there. edit = -9.4C

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

A frost here this morning. Down to minus 0.9C.

[Andy]

Air temp of -4.6 here at the moment

[Orion]

+0.6 degrees here at the moment (I'm a bit late getting the day started today!) - car and grass white with frost.

[Bradley]

Andy what is the lowest min you have seen in Alexandra?

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

EDIT:
It wood of been pretty cold there in 1995, when Ophir, not far away, the nation's lowest ever air temperature, in modern times, was recorded in the town's local Stevensons Screen on the 3rd of July

[David]

It wood of been pretty cold there in 1995, when Ophir, not far away, the nation's lowest ever air temperature, was recorded in the town's local Stevensons Screen on the 3rd of July

Perhaps not: http://weatherforum.org.nz/phpBB3/viewt ... =25&t=4478

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

I'mmmmmmmm Ranfurly 1903

[03Stormchaser]

Here is the article from Tuapeka Times 18th July 1903:

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[Flutterbye]

Andy what is the lowest min you have seen in Alexandra?

According to this site, -11 in July.

http://www.myweather2.com/City-Town/New ... px?month=7

[Richard]

A -3.5 air temp and -4 ground this morning

[Orion]

+1.0 at present, but the car is sparkling with frost.

[Andy]

-4.8 at 6:20am -4 and thick fog now

[Andy]

Andy what is the lowest min you have seen in Alexandra?

-10.4 last July on my weather station. If anyone has the all time extreme min temps Alex please share.

[Nev]

Andy what is the lowest min you have seen in Alexandra?

According to this site, -11 in July.

http://www.myweather2.com/City-Town/New ... px?month=7

Don't have data for MS's airport site, but that -11.0C rounded figure is most likely from a NIWA Alex observer taken on July 4, 1995. However, their records going back to 1929 do show one other colder temp of -11.7C (11.0°F) on July 2, 1943. Their third lowest ever temp is -10.6C on May 28, 1988.

[Nev]

Andy what is the lowest min you have seen in Alexandra?

-10.4 last July on my weather station. If anyone has the all time extreme min temps Alex please share.

That same day of July 2, 2012, a NIWA Alex observer also recorded -10.0C (rounded), their fourth-equal lowest ever temp, shared with 3 other days in July of 1995 and 1996. They also have a Compact Weather Station (CWS) located on pole in Pioneer Park but, not surprisingly, it only recorded -8.9C that day same last year.

[RWood]

I'mmmmmmmm Ranfurly 1903

Although the records taken at the time of the record low, including a Tmax of -21.1C (!!), should be good {apparently there was another record that gave the same results for 5 days}, I think there is something a bit suspect about the Eweburn site. I sent this as part of an email to Georgina Griffiths, after noting how very low the Tmax values were over a signficant number of years. She replied and said she would have a look when time permitted, but has since changed jobs and gone to MetService. I suspect this matter will not get attention. Of course, as Georgina said in her reply, there is no calibration info. or metadata available from back in those times.

My comments were : " ... noted with interest at the time the “new old” record low temperature recorded in the Ranfurly area in 1903. Didn’t think any further about it until recently, when someone on a weather forum stated that a NZ site once had a Tmax of -21.1C! So I checked, and sure enough the Eweburn site had just that in the same month, July 1903, on an adjacent day as I recall. I found this incredible to say the least, so had a check of the average monthly Tmax values (and Tmins) over its 1897-1922 history. The Tmin data didn’t look very different from that at Naseby in the following years (they moved the instruments there after 1922 according to the CliFlo notes). I have attached a spreadsheet with these monthly mean maxima. I find the overall averages – and the records prior to 1917 – very hard to believe. The very low values suggest a frost pocket with – importantly – greatly reduced daylight, and most likely something strange about the enclosure itself, with some sort of abrupt change after 1916. The mean daily ranges for the pre-1917 period are far lower than would be typical for Central Otago or the Maniototo (The Tmax and daily range averages for Naseby Forest in the following years are much higher). The 1903 year at Eweburn, albeit a coldish one for NZ overall, is amazing – one day in January having a Tmax of only 3.3C, and no day in that year exceeding 21.1C. Regarding the mean monthly minima, these do not look unreasonable. There is a slight jump after 1906. I’m interested to know what you might make of this – as a plant nursery is mentioned, I wonder if major shadowing by trees at all times of year – followed by a later clearance - might explain quite a lot."

[kiwisk8er]

We had a low of +2.9˚C this morning. Frost on cars and roof tops and some grass out the back of our house.