General August weather

[David]

cant see where all this rain spreading down from the north today is....the high is still dominanting
we have more sunshine here this morning than for the last few days

Luck you, plenty of cloud in Howick this morning, again...

[iomkiwi]

Lots of rain up here again this weekend

Here's a camera worth checking out through the day, there is not usually a lake there - but one does form more and more often it seems.

http://www.nrc.govt.nz/kaeowebcam

[Nev]

Wow! Thanks Alan. Deja vu for poor Kaeo.
I see Kerikeri Aero is also up to nearly 160mm so far from this event.

Gusts at Whangaparaoa were also up to 83 km/h yesterday.
Not so bad here though, being easterly rather than NE. 18mm of mostly light rain so far.

[iomkiwi]

Yeah - deja vu for Kaeo and the rest of the North. 1 in 50 year events are the norm up up here now

[tongueincheek]but obviously not normal enough to get higher res images off the new radar, we're all so used to it, it isn't a matter of public safety[/tongueincheek]

[Nev]

Mod note: Just a reminder that this is the last day of August. So, as it would seem more appropriate to start discussions about next week's upcoming events in the September thread, I've moved a couple of posts to that thread (this current event notwithstanding).

[David]

Today's rain didn't really eventuate here, just 0.6 mm since 7am.

[NZstorm]

Yes, a drab cold day with just a few spits. But I recorded 18mm last night/yesterday.

Tomorrow looks another overcast cold day as well.

[spwill]

The airmass should be a bit warmer tomorrow.

[melja]

Magic weekend on the coast very dry and even dusty over there with 16 dry suuny days recorded at the bach in a row .
You guys living over there must be loving this winter.

[jamie]

No rain, cloud and cold wind the last two days. August has been pretty crap in my mind.

[Skywatcher]

Temps for the month were about average for my station but a dry one with only 16mm recorded.

[einzack]

Magic weekend on the coast very dry and even dusty over there with 16 dry suuny days recorded at the bach in a row .
You guys living over there must be loving this winter.

Yep, it's been a goodie.
August mean temp was around the same as last year, but continues the trend of this winter for cooler low's and higher highs.
So more frosts again than usual, and only 2 days with a high of less than 10°C.
130mm of rain recorded - all in the first 2 weeks, and that was a monthly record, which is surprising because winter/spring are usually very wet. Just not the month of August.

[Nev]

This August was very wet in some areas and very dry in others. Temps a little cooler than normal, but generally very sunny overall.

August 2014 Climate Anomaly Map (NIWA).gif

Some very preliminary August 2014 temp and rainfall figures for the main centres:

Code: Select all

August 2014 Average Temps, Rainfall and departures from their 1981-2010 normals ℅ NIWA

Site                      T-max °C       T-min °C       T-mean °C    Rainfall mm

Auckland, Mangere        15.4  +0.5      8.9  +0.7     12.2  +0.6     125  111% 
Auckland Aero            15.0  +0.1      8.5  +0.3     11.8  +0.2     140  126% 
Tauranga Aero            15.4  +0.4      6.7   0.0     11.0  +0.2      81   73% 
Hamilton Aero            14.8  +0.1      4.0  -0.5      9.4  -0.2      83   70% 
Hamilton, Ruakura        15.3  +0.7      5.0   0.0     10.2  +0.4      79   72% 
Wellington, Kelburn      12.0  -0.2      6.4  -0.3      9.2  -0.2      76   65% 
Christchurch Aero        12.2  -0.2      1.1  -0.9      6.7  -0.5      18   30% 
Dunedin, Musselburgh     11.5  +0.3      3.6  -0.5      7.6  -0.1      43   76%

Worth noting that Kerikeri Aero in the Far North recorded about 376mm this August (or 206% of normal), including 180mm over last weekend and 105mm on the 19th. A couple of Northland Regional Council sites (Touwai at Weta Trig & Kaeo at Bramleys) also recorded 254mm in the last 2 calendar days.

Edit: Amended Mangere T-max & Ak Aero rainfall figures.

[Manukau heads obs]

the question is, do you include the rain from midnight to 9am this morning as August rain or not
(I have moved to midnight reset myself, makes more sense)

[jamie]

I am midnight too....as off this year.

I was -0.9 below average for August with 9.5.

[Nev]

Yes, the NIWA figures are to 9am this morning, which include over 30mm for Akld this morn. Not much rain in the Far North or elsewhere early this morn though.

Personally I prefer the 9am reset, because in terms of rainfall, 7am to 9am is the standard meteorological practice recommended the WMO.

[Manukau heads obs]

The USA and the UK generally use midnight reset though

[Michael]

August been crappy here,night time quite mild but the days cold apart from 1 day at the beginning of the month,a week of dry but only 4 sunny days in that.

[Nev]

Not sure about the UK, but most of the US rainfall obs I've seen are based on 7am EST time.

Michael, Akld has had 150 hrs of sunshine this August, which is marginally above normal.

[shovelopikis]

3 snowfalls in the western bays/ tihoi area of waikato this august...not sureif its normal or not since ive only been here 2 months but id say atleast once a year during a cold snap wouldnt be hard to belive, very cool, and sunny.

[RWood]

Not sure about the UK, but most of the US rainfall obs I've seen are based on 7am EST time.

Michael, Akld has had 150 hrs of sunshine this August, which is marginally above normal.

Prejudices always trump facts ...

I'm in Port Douglas - Cairns had 254 hrs in August, Darwin at least 331.

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Temps for the month were about average for my station but a dry one with only 16mm recorded.

Same here, Graham but I recorded 24.6mm of precip here.

[Nev]

A few more Northland weekend rainfall figures in this story…

'Northland's wettest winter since 1946' - Northern Advocate

[David]

A few more Northland weekend rainfall figures in this story…

'Northland's wettest winter since 1946' - Northern Advocate

Thanks for the link. Also from Metservice website Kerikeri had 1112mm for the winter. Incredible totals!

[Nev]

Also from Metservice website Kerikeri had 1112mm for the winter. Incredible totals!

Yes, that's almost twice Kerikeri Aero's normal winter rainfall.