NZ Weather Forum

spwill wrote:5 years ago today it snowed in Auckland , http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/artic ... d=11693646
There was certainly snowflakes over southern/ sw parts of the region. My experience of the day was snowflakes near Pukekohe and soft hail in Mt Eden.

There was nothing interesting in Howick that day sadly... I do remember it was damn cold though. My data history shows it was 5C at midday.

David wrote:

spwill wrote:5 years ago today it snowed in Auckland , http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/artic ... d=11693646
There was certainly snowflakes over southern/ sw parts of the region. My experience of the day was snowflakes near Pukekohe and soft hail in Mt Eden.

There was nothing interesting in Howick that day sadly... I do remember it was damn cold though. My data history shows it was 5C at midday.

Yep I remember driving in Hamilton and going from sleet to full flakes. Exciting day that one!

With the month half done its looking like bucking the trend of the year to date here in ChCh with a colder than average month, the mean temp is just 4.3 degrees at Jeffs Hoon Hay Station, the most local to me (for eg), month to date.

Razor wrote:With the month half done its looking like bucking the trend of the year to date here in ChCh with a colder than average month, the mean temp is just 4.3 degrees at Jeffs Hoon Hay Station, the most local to me (for eg), month to date.

It's not just Chch. Temps for most of the South Island have averaged at least 2-3C below normal so far. Temps for the North Island have also averaged between 0.5C and 1.5C below normal. So even if the rest of this month is warmer than normal, it still looks like August will end up being the country's first colder than normal month this year.

Nev wrote:

Razor wrote:With the month half done its looking like bucking the trend of the year to date here in ChCh with a colder than average month, the mean temp is just 4.3 degrees at Jeffs Hoon Hay Station, the most local to me (for eg), month to date.

It's not just Chch. Temps for most of the South Island have averaged at least 2-3C below normal so far. Temps for the North Island have also averaged between 0.5C and 1.5C below normal. So even if the rest of this month is warmer than normal, it still looks like August will end up being the country's first colder than normal month this year.

Looking at the next 7-10 days as well it doesn't look like there's any real warmth on the way either so almost certainly it will end up being a colder than average month for most of New Zealand, exactly what Tony predicted months ago so credit goes to him!

Looking like some great spring weather in the coming days.

I see MS have a blog comparing this month's recent cold spell with the August 2011 snow event.
Also interesting looking back at the 2011 blog…

'5 years on from the 'big snow' of August 2011' - MetService Blog

'The Big Chill (2011)' - MetService Blog

Nev wrote:I see MS have a blog comparing this month's recent cold spell with the August 2011 snow event.
Also interesting looking back at the 2011 blog…

'5 years on from the 'big snow' of August 2011' - MetService Blog

'The Big Chill (2011)' - MetService Blog

Nice blog entry. Seldom noted is the brilliant clear weather that followed in some areas, with Nelson and Blenheim setting sunshine records.

I see 2011 was a la nina year while August this year has been neutral but on the la nina side of neutral. The AAO has been strongly negative this August. I think when the AAO is strongly negative there is a better chance of cold air reaching NZ.

Spring is in the air, plenty of sunshine with lows 3-4C and highs 16-17C both today and yesterday. Photo is one of our flowering cherry trees at the moment

yes
great weather
makes people more happy too

Nice blossom, David.

Visibility rapidly diminishing here as fog closes in, has gone from say 400m to 100m in the last five minutes.

Yes. Fog moving in here from about half an hour ago, from the south.

Heaviest fog i can remember here in West Melton!!

Clear sky here this morning.
Still no sign of a good rain maker for eastern SI for Aug with ground water tables lower this winter than last, coming up 22months since the last 'wetter than average' month...will Sep bring the rains?

Clear in Auckland...beautiful. Fog all the way to the top of the bombays then into clear blue.

Richard wrote:Clear sky here this morning.
Still no sign of a good rain maker for eastern SI for Aug with ground water tables lower this winter than last, coming up 22months since the last 'wetter than average' month...will Sep bring the rains?

I thought January was quite wet for North Canterbury Richard? For example even Culverden got 79mm?

jamie wrote:Clear in Auckland...beautiful. Fog all the way to the top of the bombays then into clear blue.

Funny how after 3days in a row of clear calm weather there was some fog about this morning. There has been no rain to add any moisture to the ground, so I wonder what causes the difference. Sun was already poking through by the time I got to work about 9am however.

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk

Bradley wrote:

Richard wrote:Clear sky here this morning.
Still no sign of a good rain maker for eastern SI for Aug with ground water tables lower this winter than last, coming up 22months since the last 'wetter than average' month...will Sep bring the rains?

I thought January was quite wet for North Canterbury Richard? For example even Culverden got 79mm?

From memory it was very hit and miss with those Jan events some areas like ChCh got good falls but others got nothing. Such is the nature of NW spillover events

Could be a good active system brewing in a weeks time going by GFS, especially for West Coast

Razor wrote:

Bradley wrote:
I thought January was quite wet for North Canterbury Richard? For example even Culverden got 79mm?

From memory it was very hit and miss with those Jan events some areas like ChCh got good falls but others got nothing. Such is the nature of NW spillover events

Razor is spot on, a storm dumped 43mm here in 15mins but 2kms away got nothing, Culverden picked up a different storm on the same day. But on the whole much of the area received about average rainfalls

Cheviot received 69mm for Jan, so that wouldn't be much over the average long term

Great conditions in Ohakune since Monday. Amazing bluebird days. Snow at Ruapehu is fantastic

went skiing last sunday...along with every one else
whakapapa was full ..could not take any more..so had to drive to Turoa...which was also full..and had to wait for over flow carpark 12 to take cars and a shuttle bus

SnwAddct wrote:Great conditions in Ohakune since Monday. Amazing bluebird days. Snow at Ruapehu is fantastic

Manukau heads obs wrote:went skiing last sunday...along with every one else
whakapapa was full ..could not take any more..so had to drive to Turoa...which was also full..and had to wait for over flow carpark 12 to take cars and a shuttle bus

I've done two day trips this year. Best quality snow I've had there in 10 years of using it. 2nd day I went was best day I've ever had up there.

I always leave here at 5am and hit national park at 7.30. Gives me option to go to turoa if that's the best condition slope. Any later than that, especially on weekend or school holiday, and your stuck in a traffic jam or parked at the bottom.