Frosts 2018

[einzack]

First proper white frost this morning. Bottomed out at -1.9°C.
Had a few other nights below 0 recently, but this is the coldest, and none of the others gave us that white frost. Yesterday was -1.2°C for example.

[Simon Culling]

Thanks Nev, I meant to say in the Auckland 'area' rather than imply the city itself for those outlying stations. Being a big city, I would imagine it has a heat island effect just like other large conurbations. The Motat site is interesting as it appears to be right in the centre of the city. Is the site a roof-top one or is it in the nearby park/golf course?

NIWA reports a minimum of -7.4*C at Ranfurly for Friday morning.

[Nev]

Hi Simon. Guess you mean the upper North Island area then... Yes, can be a bit confusing when Auckland can mean either the city itself (aka 'central Auckland') or the greater Auckland Region, the latter spanning about 125 km between the Northland Region to the north (main city Whangarei) and the Waikato Region to the south (main city Hamilton).

Incidentally, the tip of the Whangaparaoa Peninsular and Leigh further north only recorded T-mins of 7.7C and 8.0C respectively on Wednesday, so that's a temp range of about 8C that morning around the Akld region (also note that some parts of Akld recorded colder T-mins the day before and the day after).

Not sure about NIWA's central Motat EWS. Coordinates actually put it in a suburban backyard right next to the Pt Chevalier side of Motat's Meloa Rd aviation complex, but I suspect it's more likely to be in an open space in the complex grounds, which is also not too far from the upper-harbour coast.

[Richard]

Cloud cover again meant no frost.
The last three autumns have seen later and later hard frosts, to have potatoes and cape gooseberries still green on the 1st day of winter was totally unimaginable 15 years ago here.

[Simon Culling]

Thanks for your reply, Nev.

NIWA has provided a few lows for the SI for Friday morning (1st June) with -9.1*C recorded at Ranfurly.

https://twitter.com/NiwaWeather/status/ ... 3750350848

Some nice pictures of the frost further down the tweet.

[Simon Culling]

MetService has reported the first double digit negative temperature for this winter in NZ. The mercury fell to -10.2*C at Mount Cook Airport on Saturday (2nd June) morning.

When I first joined this forum I was of the opinion that the weather in New Zealand was just like that of the UK but quite a bit warmer. I have learnt a lot in the last 8 or 9 years!!!

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Minus 1 this morning with ice on the rubbish tin lid and the windscreen of the truck.
Frosty again this evening.

[spwill]

MetService has reported the first double digit negative temperature for this winter in NZ. The mercury fell to -10.2*C at Mount Cook Airport on Saturday (2nd June) morning.

When I first joined this forum I was of the opinion that the weather in New Zealand was just like that of the UK but quite a bit warmer. I have learnt a lot in the last 8 or 9 years!!!

Not many people live at Mt Cook, it is National Park and the village and airport are surrounded by very steep Mnts rising over 3000m, very frosty through Winter. A very spectacular place.

[Richard]

Was a bit of frost about 9.00pm when it reached 0.9deg, at 2.00 am the NW wind arrived and by 5.50 it had warmed to 12deg

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Frost here this morning but went off as I went out to get the newspaper at 8am, with thin high cloud cover.
Down to minus 1C again.

[Richard]

Half way through June and we haven't been sub zero yet, it's gonna be a resounding "pop" when climate-change deniers pull their heads out of their asses!

[spwill]

Half way through June and we haven't been sub zero yet, it's gonna be a resounding "pop" when climate-change deniers pull their heads out of their asses!

Frost over the South Island relates to cloud cover as much as anything. Invercargill has had a sunny June so far and has had frost on every morning this June but for one day including two -5C mornings. Some parts of the Auckland region have had a couple of ground frost days this June.

At this stage next week has a lot of frost potential, some bitter cold air in the GFS.

[Richard]

Its an over all trend thats been happening for the last 5-6 years here, when we moved here 17 years ago a killing frost was common in March, now they dont happen till May.

[Richard]

But yes cloud cover has been the saving grace this June here.

[melja]

And more cloud is a symptom of climate change too.

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[RWood]

I would be happy to see some frosty conditions in exchange for a few sunny days. Regarding cloud cover here, so far this decade is significantly cloudier than the previous 3 - assuming no deterioration in the manual equipment still used at Kelburn to measure sunshine. I think the main culprit is more frequent and prolonged events where moist NNE-NW airflows give us persistent overcast conditions with some drizzle or light rain. Perhaps if the Tasman is a little warmer than in those earlier decades that might be a consequence.

[spwill]

Auckland has got sunnier, the last 17 years of climate summary averages out at around 2100 hrs from the 2003.1 hrs which Niwa has as the long term average.

[RWood]

Auckland has got sunnier, the last 17 years of climate summary averages out at around 2100 hrs from the 2003.1 hrs which Niwa has as the long term average.

Yes, I noticed that for the Mangere site. Presumably the "exposure" hasn't changed much - do you feel that the figures reflect your experience? Note that the 2003 is derived from the period 1981-1998 only. After a gap, 2002-2010 gave an average of 2132.

[spwill]

Auckland has got sunnier, the last 17 years of climate summary averages out at around 2100 hrs from the 2003.1 hrs which Niwa has as the long term average.

Yes, I noticed that for the Mangere site. Presumably the "exposure" hasn't changed much - do you feel that the figures reflect your experience? Note that the 2003 is derived from the period 1981-1998 only. After a gap, 2002-2010 gave an average of 2132.

I arrived in Auckland in 1994. From my observation I feel there is less sea breeze convergence cloud and less cloudiness with southwest flows from those first years I was here.

[Richard]

First sub zero temperature for June, only just though -0.2deg

[Richard]

First sub zero temperature for June, only just though -0.2deg

This is where things have changed here, it was clear all night, no wind,no warm air flows, a decade ago a similar June morning would have been -3deg or -4deg. This has been noticed by people who have spent there life's around here.

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

A wee bit frosty this morning, down to minus 1.5C but mind you it was all gone when I finally got up around 11am
The joys of retired life

[melja]

Just hit -4 in Rangiora, first real frost.

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[Razor]

Yeah first proper frost for 2018 here too. -3.3

[Richard]

And here also, -4.5