NZ Weather Forum

We were spending around $250 on wood a month plus $80 on power with wetback and hotwater cylinder off. And now $260 all up with 3 heat pumps in an un insulated 1950s house. Best thing is constant whole house warmth and full WiFi control.
Still have the log burner for power cuts but can't remember the last power cut in Rangiora.

On the topic of weather, it's looking like a mild period could be a possibility.

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The first signs of Spring here with dozens of Tui birds feeding on the early blossom through local gardens.

melja wrote: ↑Thu 26/07/2018 18:39 We were spending around $250 on wood a month.

That's a lot of money. At West Melton, never paid for firewood for the time we were there as firewood supplies were handy, mind you I did a lot of work cutting firewood etc.which I sort of don't mind, like a hobby.
The supplies we got down here, I thought were quite reasonable, so didn't mind paying for the time that we didn't have to pay for firewood.

A cubic metre a week we burnt.

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melja wrote: ↑Thu 26/07/2018 18:39 We were spending around $250 on wood a month plus $80 on power with wetback and hotwater cylinder off. And now $260 all up with 3 heat pumps in an un insulated 1950s house. Best thing is constant whole house warmth and full WiFi control.
Still have the log burner for power cuts but can't remember the last power cut in Rangiora.

On the topic of weather, it's looking like a mild period could be a possibility.

We're in much the same boat here in Rakaia, we've been going through $280 a month in firewood plus $110 a month for our hot water and power. We're also living in a 1950's house (only 110m in size), have done the underfloor insulation and ceiling insulation. Next step is to gradually double glaze. I love your post about the heatpumps, are you leaving them permanently on the same setting on automatic? Very interested to know as we are considering heatpumps in the future.

spwill wrote:The first signs of Spring here with dozens of Tui birds feeding on the early blossom through local gardens.

What the....... no sign of any trees here about to pop open! That seems very early.


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Trees of that same variety are in blossom in Cambridge already. They are about a week later this year. I've seen them out in mid July before.

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normal patterns resuming now .no blocking just the usual procession of fronts and troughs.Cant see any change for a while with the high in the upper Tasman setting up camp .BORING

treetop wrote: ↑Fri 27/07/2018 07:22 normal patterns resuming now .no blocking just the usual procession of fronts and troughs.Cant see any change for a while with the high in the upper Tasman setting up camp .BORING

Not boring for me. Quite sunny compared to the Groundhog Day kind of gloom we had in late May and over half of June.

spwill wrote: ↑Thu 26/07/2018 20:36 The first signs of Spring here with dozens of Tui birds feeding on the early blossom through local gardens.

The four trees in our yard are just getting ready to flower... buds yet to open. We've had a Tui bird patrolling a perimeter around them for a few months now, singing just about all day every day! It's probably the same one we had last year that was being greedy and kept chasing all the other birds away

spwill wrote: ↑Thu 26/07/2018 20:36 The first signs of Spring here with dozens of Tui birds feeding on the early blossom through local gardens.

Looks like a Taiwan Cherry Tree to me? They do flower earlier than the Japanese variety (from July to Sept here in NZ). Tui's love them, but they're considered an invasive pest in some areas of NZ.

Quite a difference in between GFS and EC for the weather next Thursday-Friday for Canterbury, EC going for a fairly rigorous Souterly airflow with 10-20cm of snow down to 400m whereas GFS going for mildish temperatures and no rain at all. I see Tony has mentioned this potential snow bearing system on Facebook this morning so he must be putting some weight on EC's forecast...

Bradley wrote: ↑Fri 27/07/2018 11:09 Quite a difference in between GFS and EC for the weather next Thursday-Friday for Canterbury, EC going for a fairly rigorous Souterly airflow with 10-20cm of snow down to 400m whereas GFS going for mildish temperatures and no rain at all. I see Tony has mentioned this potential snow bearing system on Facebook this morning so he must be putting some weight on EC's forecast...

GFS throwing some big numbers out there for Mt Hutt, but it doesn't seem to be picking up the cold temps like EC..

Bradley wrote: ↑Fri 27/07/2018 11:09 Quite a difference in between GFS and EC for the weather next Thursday-Friday for Canterbury, EC going for a fairly rigorous Souterly airflow with 10-20cm of snow down to 400m whereas GFS going for mildish temperatures and no rain at all. I see Tony has mentioned this potential snow bearing system on Facebook this morning so he must be putting some weight on EC's forecast...

Ignore the EC at your peril...

TonyT wrote: ↑Fri 27/07/2018 11:54

Bradley wrote: ↑Fri 27/07/2018 11:09 Quite a difference in between GFS and EC for the weather next Thursday-Friday for Canterbury, EC going for a fairly rigorous Souterly airflow with 10-20cm of snow down to 400m whereas GFS going for mildish temperatures and no rain at all. I see Tony has mentioned this potential snow bearing system on Facebook this morning so he must be putting some weight on EC's forecast...

Ignore the EC at your peril...

haha, that is certainly something your forecasts have taught me over the years that EC is right 9 times out of 10 this far out...

My sense from the UK in the past is that the EC is a coldie of a model sometimes, and the GFS a little less so. Both are showing a colder airmass from mid-next week with some very cold air nearby, especially to our east, but how close that gets is varying.

Report on stuff from MS says chch average July temp being 1.7 above normal.

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jamie wrote: ↑Fri 27/07/2018 05:51

spwill wrote:The first signs of Spring here with dozens of Tui birds feeding on the early blossom through local gardens.

What the....... no sign of any trees here about to pop open! That seems very early.


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Noticed roses budding along with Haskaps, both are about two weeks earlier than last year, in Canada Haskaps don't come to life till what would be end of Sep here, they love the NZ climate.

Saw a daisy on the back lawn today. Well that is early depite the frosts we have been getting?
Maybe the sun is getting closer

Early Spring underway, Magnolias are in flower around Mt Eden.

This morning NW meant a very clear sky for the ecplise, pulled over at the top of a hill just north of Waikari and snapped this just before the full ecplise

spwill wrote: ↑Sat 28/07/2018 11:58 Early Spring underway, Magnolias are in flower around Mt Eden.

Magnolias are another mid to late winter flowering tree, so that's pretty normal.

Unlike the very warm average temps further south, Mangere's average July T-mean so far is about 0.4C below normal, while Akld Aero's is about 0.3C above normal. Mangere has also only had 66% of its normal July rainfall so far, while Akld Aero has had 91%, even though they're only 5 km apart.

Nev wrote: ↑Sat 28/07/2018 14:46

spwill wrote: ↑Sat 28/07/2018 11:58 Early Spring underway, Magnolias are in flower around Mt Eden.

Magnolias are another mid to late winter flowering tree, so that's pretty normal.

Unlike the very warm average temps further south, Mangere's average July T-mean so far is about 0.4C below normal, while Akld Aero's is about 0.3C above normal. Mangere has also only had 66% of its normal July rainfall so far, while Akld Aero has had 91%, even though they're only 5 km apart.

Yes, certainly not been warmer than average here, the deciduos Magnolias are on time and flower into early Spring (Calendar Spring).

I usually watch the local English Oak for the first spring signal. Bud break typically late August but can be a bit earlier.

NZstorm wrote: ↑Sat 28/07/2018 18:02 I usually watch the local English Oak for the first spring signal.

There's that old English saying:
If the Oak comes before the Ash, we're in for a splash
but if the Ash comes before the Oak, we're in for a soak