General December Weather

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Richard
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Re: General December Weather

Unread post by Richard »

Deep rumble of thunder heard to my NW, seems to be getting closer.
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Richard
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Re: General December Weather

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looking towards Hanmer at 6.00pm
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Re: General December Weather

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Atleast somewhere is getting rain, good shots there Richard
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Re: General December Weather

Unread post by Orion »

Sunlight beginning to filter through now as the mist clears.
14.9deg.C here.

One more sleep... \:D/
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Richard
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Re: General December Weather

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A fly **** short of 30deg with light NW wind
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Re: General December Weather

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Looks like a big crop of elevated storms in south Tasman Sea. There has been little ts activity in the Tasman recently which is unusual.

Hot spot on the airport data today was Dunedin Airport on 29C, Wanaka and Alex on 28C. A number of places including Auckland up to 26C.
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Re: General December Weather

Unread post by Simon Culling »

Looking at the maximum temperature maps on the twitter page of MetService, Hanmer Springs was the warmest place in NZ on the 20th (31*C), 22nd (29*C) and 24th (30*C) December. Given that it is at about 350m amsl, is there any topographical reason for this run of high temperatures?

PS, Merry Christmas to all at NZ Weather Forum.
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Re: General December Weather

Unread post by NZstorm »

Simon Culling wrote: Sun 24/12/2017 22:50 Looking at the maximum temperature maps on the twitter page of MetService, Hanmer Springs was the warmest place in NZ on the 20th (31*C), 22nd (29*C) and 24th (30*C) December. Given that it is at about 350m amsl, is there any topographical reason for this run of high temperatures?

PS, Merry Christmas to all at NZ Weather Forum.
A number of factors combine,
Sheltered valley
Foehn affects
Dry landscape
Warm airmasses advect onto the South Island from Australia.
Warmer than average season this year.

Merry Christmas
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Richard
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Re: General December Weather

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The reason why Hanmer Springs has been reporting to have had such temperatures is down to the location of the recording station. As far as i'm aware it located at the hot pools, so given its adjacent to large areas of bitumen, many buildings and the warmth given off by the hot water it doesn't come close to meeting the World Meteorological Organization standards. The nearest other weather station is at the Hanmer River Winery 3 kms south of the township and under a line of north facing hills, so in theory would be a slightly warmer location than Hanmer yet shows temps similar to Culverden and here. Hanmer Springs used to have its recording station at the forestry camp and in those days it would only occasionally take out the top temp, unlike today. Makes me wonder if those town promotion organizations see this as a way to get there name splashed over the TV screens. NZstorm mentioned 'Sheltered valley', that wouldn't have been a factor yesterday as it was blowing NW through out the district so temps would have been relatively similar (29 deg Culverden- 29.4deg here and mid afternoon Hanmer River Winery 28deg)
Last edited by Richard on Mon 25/12/2017 06:37, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: General December Weather

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... oh and the forestry camp was only a k east of the town.
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Re: General December Weather

Unread post by RWood »

Richard wrote: Mon 25/12/2017 06:34 The reason why Hanmer Springs has been reporting to have had such temperatures is down to the location of the recording station. As far as i'm aware it located at the hot pools, so given its adjacent to large areas of bitumen, many buildings and the warmth given off by the hot water it doesn't come close to meeting the World Meteorological Organization standards. The nearest other weather station is at the Hanmer River Winery 3 kms south of the township and under a line of north facing hills, so in theory would be a slightly warmer location than Hanmer yet shows temps similar to Culverden and here. Hanmer Springs used to have its recording station at the forestry camp and in those days it would only occasionally take out the top temp, unlike today. Makes me wonder if those town promotion organizations see this as a way to get there name splashed over the TV screens. NZstorm mentioned 'Sheltered valley', that wouldn't have been a factor yesterday as it was blowing NW through out the district so temps would have been relatively similar (29 deg Culverden- 29.4deg here and mid afternoon Hanmer River Winery 28deg)
Presumably you're not referring to the Hanmer Forest EWS which appears in CLiFlo tables and monthly summaries - its average Tmax in Jan & Feb is 1C lower than at Culverden. The notes say that this site is 1.3km from the pre-1995 Hanmer Forest site.

Metservice's main list (not Twitter) of top temps. yesterday doesn't include Hanmer, so at least any pool area site isn't on their website lists.

Edit: That EWS is a NIWA site (obs. NIWA/Carter Holt Harvey).
Last edited by RWood on Mon 25/12/2017 09:07, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: General December Weather

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Looks to be a good thunder/hail set up in the Nelson region tomorrow.
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Richard
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Re: General December Weather

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Ok , so is it that Hanmer Forest EWS still operating, who maintains that?

(its average Tmax in Jan & Feb is 1C lower than at Culverden) well there you go
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Re: General December Weather

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Richard wrote: Mon 25/12/2017 09:12 Ok , so is it that Hanmer Forest EWS still operating, who maintains that?

(its average Tmax in Jan & Feb is 1C lower than at Culverden) well there you go
NIWA but CHH must do some of the reporting ...
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Re: General December Weather

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Merry christmas all, have a great day!
Mike
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Re: General December Weather

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Currently 27deg. C here, NW wind, looks like a nor'west arch over the horizon.

A merry Christmas to one and all :D :wave:
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Re: General December Weather

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The beginnings of a breeze from the south here now, some nice coolth with it :)
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Re: General December Weather

Unread post by Simon Culling »

Thanks to Richard + Rupert for the information regarding the Hanmer Springs weather station(s). A tweet from MetService today gives the Christmas Day maximum as 31*C at both Hanmer Springs + Christchurch, although a NIWA tweet states 'As of 2:00pm, Christchurch (downtown) had reached a max of 31.8*C'.

We have similar problems here in the UK with questions about the siting of weather stations and different figures from competing authorities!
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Re: General December Weather

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Great to hear some heavy rain on the roof this morning! And looking like some more rain later too
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Re: General December Weather

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A few bangs of thunder with the passage of the front over the Marlborough sounds this morning.

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Re: General December Weather

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8mm overnight, sun out now with 22c and 19c dew point. Might get a rumble this afternoon.

EC starting to get excited about the new year for a decent hit on NZ with a bombing Tasman low.

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=5733&p=171903#p171903

:smile:
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Re: General December Weather

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Cloudy 23C for Auckland currently.

That low early in the new year looks to pull a lot of warm moist air across NZ.
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Re: General December Weather

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RWood wrote: Mon 25/12/2017 08:20 … [Hanmer Forest's] average Tmax in Jan & Feb is 1C lower than at Culverden.
Not any more. On the contrary, since late 2009 when MS moved its Culverden site back to the airstrip and mounted its compact AWS several metres up a pole, its average Jan/Feb Tmax has consistently been about 1C lower than NIWA's Hanmer Forest EWS.

Also note that the highest of Culverden's five 30C+ days so far this month is 31.6C, compared to nine days at Hanmer Forest, with 34.6C on the 8th toppling its previous highest Dec Tmax of 33.9C set in 1907, since records began in 1906.

Daily Tmaxs at MS's less reliable Hanmer Springs site can also be up to 3C higher (or sometimes lower) than NIWA's Hanmer Forest site about 2km to the SE.
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Re: General December Weather

Unread post by RWood »

Nev wrote: Tue 26/12/2017 13:19
RWood wrote: Mon 25/12/2017 08:20 … [Hanmer Forest's] average Tmax in Jan & Feb is 1C lower than at Culverden.
Not any more. On the contrary, since late 2009 when MS moved its Culverden site back to the airstrip and mounted its compact AWS several metres up a pole, its average Jan/Feb Tmax has consistently been about 1C lower than NIWA's Hanmer Forest EWS.

Also note that the highest of Culverden's five 30C+ days so far this month is 31.6C, compared to nine days at Hanmer Forest, with 34.6C on the 8th toppling its previous highest Dec Tmax of 33.9C set in 1907, since records began in 1906.

Daily Tmaxs at MS's less reliable Hanmer Springs site can also be up to 3C higher (or sometimes lower) than NIWA's Hanmer Forest site about 2km to the SE.

What was the previous Culverden site like? Presumably the newer one at the airstrip gets well ventilated ...
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Re: General December Weather

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The airstrip site was last time i looked at it had its sensor very well ventilated 5m above the ground. After a email conversation with the MS about the matter of having there sensor within 1.5 to 2m WMO standard i presume they must have carried out some sort of refit as Culverdens temps of late have been very closely similar to here.
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