General February Weather

[NZstorm]

I have just heard Australia has had its hottest summer on record!

Will be interesting to see if any temperature records have been broken in NZ, I'm thinking inland South Island maybe.

While we have had a warm summer in Auckland its wasn't as warm as 1998. Also a lack of humidity this summer.

[jamie]

yes had some warm-hot days but there was a major lacking of the humidity which gave cooler nights. this dropped the average temp significantly i believe.

summary for feb from my station.....ignore the max rainfall per min

Average temperature = 17.8°C
Average humidity = 80%
Average dewpoint = 13.9°C
Average barometer = 1018.1 mb
Average windspeed = 9.8 km/h
Average gustspeed = 12.4 km/h
Average direction = 278° ( W )
Rainfall for month = 12.6 mm
Rainfall for year = 28.2 mm
Maximum rain per minute = 2.0 mm on day 17 at time 09:00
Maximum temperature = 28.3°C on day 19 at time 17:45
Minimum temperature = 4.7°C on day 05 at time 05:27
Maximum humidity = 100% on day 28 at time 08:52
Minimum humidity = 41% on day 24 at time 17:26
Maximum dewpoint = 22.1°C on day 04 at time 13:24
Minimum dewpoint = 3.6°C on day 05 at time 5:27
Maximum pressure = 1029.2 mb on day 25 at time 11:30
Minimum pressure = 1001.5 mb on day 04 at time 04:47
Maximum windspeed = 55.5 kmh from 180°( S ) on day 05 at time 17:37
Maximum gust speed = 68.5 km/h from 180°( S ) on day 05 at time 17:16
Maximum heat index = 29.2°C on day 03 at time 13:58
Avg daily max temp :25.4°C
Avg daily min temp :9.9°C
Growing degrees days :230.3 GDD
Total windrun = 6593.7km

[Tornado Tim]

My Stations report can be seen here: http://matangiweather.org/lookback.php?monthyear=2013-2

[Manukau heads obs]

mine is at
http://www.weather-display.com/windy/gb ... 22013.html

average temperature here (due to high day time maximums (not as many sea breeze days with all the easterly winds)) cancelling out the colder nights

Yours Jamie is at
http://www.hamiltonweather.co.nz/climat ... 22013.html

and yes that shows colder than normal

[jamie]

Kool thanks Brian. I had lost the my favorite for that site. I had no idea what it was. But now I have the weather computer at my house I haven't needed it.

[Manukau heads obs]

the current month data is minus the month and year at the end
i.e
http://www.hamiltonweather.co.nz/climatedataou.html

ps, I have added option to show a daily wind run odometer to the main screen ...see under setup, advanced/misc...wind section...latest update of WD...
see on my web site
http://www.weather-display.com/windy/gb ... sbeach.htm
when the number changes, it rolls just like a real odometer

[Tornado Tim]

Yes I am below too by 1.2°C, however there have been some really warm days (approaching 30°C).

I have attached my Report and Hamilton AWS February Data for Reference (courtesy of Metservice.com):

[Nev]

I have just heard Australia has had its hottest summer on record!

Will be interesting to see if any temperature records have been broken in NZ, I'm thinking inland South Island maybe.

While we have had a warm summer in Auckland its wasn't as warm as 1998. Also a lack of humidity this summer.

Although 1998 was an exceptionally warm year, Akld mean-temps for the first 2 months of the 1997/98 summer were close to normal. It wasn't until Feb, which was more than 2C above normal, that temps really started to warm up. This summer it was Dec that was fairly warm in Akld, while Jan and Feb were fairly close to normal.

February 2013 will see many sunshine records smashed along with record or near record low rainfalls. Wellington and Hamilton have just recorded their highest ever Feb sunshine totals, and Tauranga and Christchurch their second highest.

[Michael]

I remember Jan 98 was terrible,the 1st week was attrocious it didnt settle to the end of the month.

[Manukau heads obs]

day time temperatures will be up, night time temperature down, on normal, I suspect

[Michael]

Here nights have been quite warm,dont think anything under 15 in weeks and mostly around 17 in ak

[David]

Here nights have been quite warm,dont think anything under 15 in weeks and mostly around 17 in ak

It was the coolest average low I have recorded for February in the 4 Februaries I have data for. Average low was 14.5C. Previous years were 15.2, 17.1, 17.0

[spwill]

Comfortable weather this feb with the lower humidity than normal. No sea breeze convergence showers at my house, a first from what I can remember.

Some sunshine hrs from the NZ Herald weather section, Auckland 229.1 hrs, Gisborne235.8, Wellington 280.6, Christchurch 234.8. New Plymouth showing 330.4 hrs ?

[NZstorm]

New Plymouth showing 330.4 hrs

Must be an error there.

[spwill]

Yes, must be an error there

[RWood]

Comfortable weather this feb with the lower humidity than normal. No sea breeze convergence showers at my house, a first from what I can remember.

Some sunshine hrs from the NZ Herald weather section, Auckland 229.1 hrs, Gisborne235.8, Wellington 280.6, Christchurch 234.8. New Plymouth showing 330.4 hrs ?

It's a case of an EWS going a bit "over the top". But that's an issue for quite a number of them. Only the ones that come out high in the national "stakes", like Whakatane (which as far as I am concerned still misrepresents its status - suddenly closing or even reversing the 100-150 hour gap which existed between it and Blenheim or Nelson for decades - yeah right?!?!) get any attention. Lower down in the table there are other unreasonable improvements, none more absurd than around Balclutha whose Telford site shows numbers 400+ hours ahead of the manual one - even if the latter is somewhat inferior, that's ridiculous. Greymouth is another - its EWS value last year of 2169 was 321 more than the manual site gave, so the NIWA statement of a record was incorrect (the 1848 at the manual site was much lower than the record of about 1995).

Wellington's total of 280.6 hours was about 76% of the recordable amount, about 3% better than for any previous month in its history (that's back to 1907).

I posted some preliminary numbers on an overseas forum (many of them for EWSs!):

Some preliminary sunshine totals (subject to arithmetic checking): Wellington 280.6 Blenheim 288.9 Nelson 256.9 Stratford 270.9 Whakatane 290.6 Hamilton 252.5 North Shore 240.7 Mangere 229.1 Kaitaia 210.9 Dargaville 218.7 Ohakune 255.8 Tekapo 280.9 Mt Cook 229.1 Franz Josef 230.6 Waipawa 242.2 Akitio 272.0 Wallaceville 244.5 Martinborough 267.3 Paraparaumu EWS 287.0 Greymouth EWS 244.9 Cheviot 265.2 Rangiora 249.4 Akaroa 262.6 Christchurch 234.8 Dunedin 190.6 Cromwell 267.5 Invercargill AWS 172.2 Invercargill 179.1

First 27 days (updates later): New Plymouth (***) 319.3 Hokitika EWS 237.8 Ashburton 214.5 Queenstown Aero 258.8
(***) This value would imply a monthly total of about 330 and is certainly not credible, though the exceptional conditions that month could justify a value of up to about 305 hours. The last 24 days of the month saw "relentless" sunshine with comparatively low humidities and offshore breezes.

If the site gets a check for calibration, it will be because it scores highly in the "stakes" - further back in the field a significant number of others with excessive readings have been ignored for quite a long time - several years in some cases.

[RWood]

I remember Jan 98 was terrible,the 1st week was attrocious it didnt settle to the end of the month.

Auckland Aero averaged 20.2C in Jan 98, 0.9C above normal, and there was only 11mm of rain! "Terrible" sounds like gross hyperbole to me!

[Nev]

Auckland Aero averaged 20.2C in Jan 98, 0.9C above normal...

Based on Akld Aero's 1951-1980 Jan mean normal of 19.3C, yes (despite records starting in 1962). However, for comparison, its more recent 1971-2000 and 1981-2010 mean normals were 19.8C.

[RWood]

Auckland Aero averaged 20.2C in Jan 98, 0.9C above normal...

Based on Akld Aero's 1951-1980 Jan mean normal of 19.3C, yes (despite records starting in 1962). However, for comparison, its more recent 1971-2000 and 1981-2010 mean normals were 19.8C.

Interesting, I just lifted the numbers from a copy of the Climate Digest for that month, presumably using 1961-1990 normals - did you mean the 1961-1990 normal was 19.3C?

[Nev]

^ No, 1961-1990 normal was 19.5C according to CliFlo.

[RWood]

^ No, 1961-1990 normal was 19.5C according to CliFlo.

Ah - just checked the foonote to the Digest pub. - they were still using 1951-1980 normals in early 1998! Things have accelerated a bit since then ...

[Nev]

Here's NIWA's preliminary 'February 2013 Climate Summary'


National average temp of 17.1C was 0.2C below normal.

Highest daily temp of 34.6C was recorded at Alexandra on Feb 1.
Lowest daily temp of -1.1C was recorded at Mount Ruapehu on Feb 6.

Despite the widespread dryness, only 2 places set new low rainfall records - Leigh with 6mm and Milford Sound with 76mm.

[Manukau heads obs]

yeah, but the rain that did get recorded in Feb was recorded at the start of the month
which is why places are drying out so badly now

[Nev]

Note that NIWA's summary says that Chch's 234.8 hrs of sunshine is its 3rd highest Feb total since 1930. The only figure I can find that beats that is the 266.3 hrs it recorded in 2003.

[RWood]

Note that NIWA's summary says that Chch's 234.8 hrs of sunshine is its 3rd highest Feb total since 1930. The only figure I can find that beats that is the 266.3 hrs it recorded in 2003.

244.2 in 1978. Note that some EWSs in the region had pretty high values reported this Feb. (Akaroa, Rangiora).