General February Weather

Storm Struck · Unread post by **Storm Struck** » Wed 27/02/2013 21:12

As far as i am aware most of the region is under extreme fire risk especially the Selwyn district its very high around here on the coast.
I know the fires are very much controlled but you feel as though they shouldnt be doing it in such conditions, they are only allowed to burn off so many hectares a day otherwise farmers will recieve a hefty fine.

We might actually get a few patchy showers on Saturday it seems to be sneaking into the models today, wont be much though.

NZ Thunderstorm Soc · Wed 27/02/2013 21:20

I reckon that Hawkes Bay and possibly Marlborough and Canterbury will be decleared as a Drought area as there hasn't been any significant rain for a while, last rain here was on Feb 5th but here hasn't been much drying out situations like in January with those NW winds drying the place out .Places like Southland and Northland have had bits of precipitation so they should be OK. Possibly the Waikato area is on the borderline?

jamie · Unread post by **jamie** » Wed 27/02/2013 21:26

Yep Waikato will be this week. There is hawksbay which will be declared in the next week. BOP I haven't heard about when their region meets with the government. They are very dry too.

I was shocked to see last Friday that Waikato wasn't declared because of fare that public will perceive farmers as whingers. The other reason was there is still supplement feed to be used.

Manukau heads obs · Wed 27/02/2013 22:11

http://ftpmedia.niwa.co.nz/climate/smd_anom.png?1234

https://www.niwa.co.nz/climate/daily-climate-maps

seej · Unread post by **seej** » Thu 28/02/2013 00:30

Light rain falling here for last 10mins!!:D

Richard · Unread post by **Richard** » Thu 28/02/2013 07:01

This usual of stubble burning is really nothing short of environmental vandalism,an unnecessary practice thats based around a traditional farming method which should be banned like it is in the US/Canada.

Very thick fog here this morning and i see the two different MetS websites have two different max temps for CHCH,a way off the mark 28deg on one and a more realistic 25deg on the other

snowstormwatcher · Unread post by **snowstormwatcher** » Thu 28/02/2013 07:22

Richard wrote:This usual of stubble burning is really nothing short of environmental vandalism,an unnecessary practice thats based around a traditional farming method which should be banned like it is in the US/Canada.

Very thick fog here this morning and i see the two different MetS websites have two different max temps for CHCH,a way off the mark 28deg on one and a more realistic 25deg on the other

Yeah I agree, There was a huge amount of stubble haze and smoke around Fairlie yesterday Its been there close on a week and each day it gets worse cause there's no wind or rain to clear it out.You know its bad when you can hardly see the Mountains which are less than 20km away like yesterday afternoon.

Thick fog in Fairlie also this morning, Quite mild on 12c.

Razor · Unread post by **Razor** » Thu 28/02/2013 07:49

Storm Struck wrote:As far as i am aware most of the region is under extreme fire risk especially the Selwyn district its very high around here on the coast.
I know the fires are very much controlled but you feel as though they shouldnt be doing it in such conditions, they are only allowed to burn off so many hectares a day otherwise farmers will recieve a hefty fine.

We might actually get a few patchy showers on Saturday it seems to be sneaking into the models today, wont be much though.

Utterly dispute this Jason- attached website shows there have been very few days with extreme fire risk around ChCh/ Selwyn (plains) in recent weeks- you need to be looking at the middle graphic "Fire Danger Class"

http://www.nrfa.org.nz/fire_weather/wea ... Danger.asp

Yes its dry, and there is plenty of dry combustable, but for heavens sakes farmers must be allowed to do their jobs. The bigger risk is idiots from the city mucking around in the rural areas

Orion · Unread post by **Orion** » Thu 28/02/2013 16:01

Morning mist, then clearing.
Now a pleasant 29 degrees with 43% humidity;
an easterly picking up, by the sounds of the rustling in the pines;
I have observed some "mares' tails" over the last day or so: a southerly coming?

snowstormwatcher · Unread post by **snowstormwatcher** » Thu 28/02/2013 16:05

30 degrees in Fairlie this afternoon wont get any warmer though with a easterly wind.

Richard · Unread post by **Richard** » Thu 28/02/2013 17:51

The misses reckons today's weather was down right bloody revolting(i was in Amberley),got to just shy of 38deg,still on 33deg ATM with a light NW wind

Orion · Unread post by **Orion** » Thu 28/02/2013 18:18

Classic photo

Tornado Tim · Unread post by **Tornado Tim** » Thu 28/02/2013 18:49

The Weather station here is now showing the FWI as High.....
What does everyone else have (who has WD installed)?

Manukau heads obs · Thu 28/02/2013 18:55

Mine is the highest I have seen it too, not as high as yours though (13.5 FWI here)
as we have had more rain than you here

Michael · Unread post by **Michael** » Thu 28/02/2013 19:34

The last time it rained here I think was the 4th or 5th and was only showers.

Storm Struck · Unread post by **Storm Struck** » Thu 28/02/2013 20:01

What i am talking about is the fire danger risk signs plotted around the countryside, i dont know if the city has any but you go north up near Waipara they are extreme and just down the road its very high.

Anyway the irrigation channels in North Canterbury are starting to run dry farmers have been urged to be careful with the use of the water now.

Interesting to know the last couple of mornings have been fine and clear on the coast here, but cloudy over the city and fog inland about 10 minutes drive.
Its normally the other way around with the coast hugging the fog low cloud etc.

Razor · Unread post by **Razor** » Thu 28/02/2013 20:39

Fair enough Jase

- I was on the Selwyn/ City rant. North Canty is certainly worse than what we have down here, being away from the nor-easterly so much

David · Unread post by **David** » Thu 28/02/2013 20:48

Manukau heads obs wrote:Mine is the highest I have seen it too, not as high as yours though (13.5 FWI here)
as we have had more rain than you here

Mine is showing 18.3 for today, although it says the FWI was 19.5 yesterday - not sure why it decreased. Only 29mm rain here across Jan/Feb.

jamie · Unread post by **jamie** » Thu 28/02/2013 20:56

Im sitting on a FWI 19.4 yesterday and 18.1 today but i don't believe it. Do you have to enter anything into those fields to make it better?

we don't have the bush around here to be worried about a bush fire. grass fires are easy to extinguish with the grass shortage on the farms.

I saw yesterday i had 44mm of evapotranspiration in the last 7 days. That's the highest i have seen but i don't look at it all that often.

Just 28.2mm for the entire year so far.

jamie · Unread post by **jamie** » Thu 28/02/2013 21:15

Another awesome moon rise tonight

melja · Unread post by **melja** » Thu 28/02/2013 21:24

Not that dry round here in Rangiora yet with nice green grass on the road side in places and many green paddocks but is drying out fast now.
Drought is only given when farmers in an area have run out of all possible ways of feeding there stock like sup feed, winter feed etc and has little to do with the weather or how many days without rain as some places can still have good feed left but still have had the same low rainfalls.

Richard · Unread post by **Richard** » Thu 28/02/2013 21:41

Took this photo this morning of how dry it is around here.

Manukau heads obs · Thu 28/02/2013 21:42

the thing with the FWI is that each component is just as or more important
(i.e the DC, BUI,FFMC , etc, and the trends of all those)
there is though a % adjustment for your local conditions

iomkiwi · Unread post by **iomkiwi** » Thu 28/02/2013 23:06

I have set the % increase on my FWI so that it tracks pretty close to this page
http://nrfa.fire.org.nz/fire_weather/we ... awData.asp

Today mine dropped quite a bit more than them as I had quite a bit more rain than them (1.6mm as opposed to .2mm)

the % increase I have is 49

- I think there might be a gremlin in WD too Brian - in the View/FWI screen where the descriptions for which number gives the level of severity - Severe doesn't get a mention, goes straight from Very High to Extreme.

David · Unread post by **David** » Fri 01/03/2013 08:15

Average temp here for Feb was 19.5C, same as January. Average low 14.5C, average high 25.1C, 16mm rain.

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