General October Weather

[Dean.]

I see TV3 had Hanmer had 26 deg today which is just rubbish, been watching the two private stations on 'your weather', the Hanmer River Winery being on the south side of the valley is normally the warmest of the two and even that one only made 24deg, the one in town only got 22deg

Certainly felt like 26 if not higher here in Hanmer town

[Simon Culling]

Tweet on the NIWA Twitter page gives a maximum of 27.5*C on Saturday 20th October at Waiau, which I believe is in North Canterbury and not too far from Hanmer Springs.

https://twitter.com/NiwaWeather/status/ ... 8935274497

We have similar problems here in the UK with the same few stations often being the hottest places and some inconsistencies between neighbouring sites. Perhaps the national meteorological bodies should seek an external audit of the suitability of their observing sites?

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

I think the Waiau site is located or near some sort of sealed surface, not a grass surface like where most weather recording stations are sited.

[Richard]

Yes Waiau is only accurate on cloudy days and NIWA shouldn't be reporting Waiau's temps on Twitter when they themselfs know its not accurate.

I agree Simon, recording sites and there suitability!, otherwise where do you draw the line?, may as well start taking temps against north facing block walls or even in glasshouses. I suspect the Hanmer recording station was put in it current mico climate site to help promote the town, nothing better than having your towns name splashed over the TV free of charge. When taking into account that yesterday the district was under the influence of a light to moderate NW wind, the temperature of that wind would have been the same when it descending off the mountains, there should not have been the wide range reported, the two 'your weather 'stations at Hanmer, Culverden, Medbury and Hurunui all were around 22-24 deg, also Hanmer is closer the mountains and higher above sea level, it wasn't 26deg and nor was Waiau 27.5deg.

[NZstorm]

I see Napier Airport got to 26C yesterday.

Looking mainly dry for the rest on the month in Auckland on GFS. We could end up with under 30mm for month.

[David]

Looking mainly dry for the rest on the month in Auckland on GFS. We could end up with under 30mm for month.

Not good! A dry September and a dry October, and November is also typically one of the driest months of the year here. Hopefully not headed into a drought this summer

[David]

Warmest day for Spring so far here, 22.4C reached.

[Nev]

Yeah, great holiday weather!

Happened to see TV1's temp segment for first time in months tonight. Looked like they displayed Ardmore/Hunua's high for Auckland (23C). Is there a pattern as to which of five possible stations they display?

Just realised that TV One's daily temp roundup is now inclusive of their forecast…

Yes, although Armore Aero hasn't always been included, MS normally takes the highest of its four main Akld sites as its daily 'TV Temp'. I guess there's a pattern in that whichever site is warmest usually depends on which way the wind blows…

[cbm]

Yeah, great holiday weather!

Happened to see TV1's temp segment for first time in months tonight. Looked like they displayed Ardmore/Hunua's high for Auckland (23C). Is there a pattern as to which of five possible stations they display?

Just realised that TV One's daily temp roundup is now inclusive of their forecast…

Yes, although Armore Aero hasn't always been included, MS normally takes the highest of its four main Akld sites as its daily 'TV Temp'. I guess there's a pattern in that whichever site is warmest usually depends on which way the wind blows…

Presume they do the same for Wellington, Christchurch, anywhere else that has more than one site? Otherwise there is an obvious argument to be made Guess it does not matter as it's only TV, not climatology

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

[Dean.]

Yes Waiau is only accurate on cloudy days and NIWA shouldn't be reporting Waiau's temps on Twitter when they themselfs know its not accurate.

I agree Simon, recording sites and there suitability!, otherwise where do you draw the line?, may as well start taking temps against north facing block walls or even in glasshouses. I suspect the Hanmer recording station was put in it current mico climate site to help promote the town, nothing better than having your towns name splashed over the TV free of charge. When taking into account that yesterday the district was under the influence of a light to moderate NW wind, the temperature of that wind would have been the same when it descending off the mountains, there should not have been the wide range reported, the two 'your weather 'stations at Hanmer, Culverden, Medbury and Hurunui all were around 22-24 deg, also Hanmer is closer the mountains and higher above sea level, it wasn't 26deg and nor was Waiau 27.5deg.

Naa disagree we went down to CulVerden for supplies and it was noticeably cooler than the Hanmer basin yesterday

[Dean.]

We were also in the Clarence river valley today fishing at 800 metres above sea level with a temperature even higher than the much lower Hanmer township

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Presume they do the same for Wellington, Christchurch, anywhere else that has more than one site? Otherwise there is an obvious argument to be made Guess it does not matter as it's only TV, not climatology

Yes, you'll find that NIWA's Riccarton site quite often gets the maximum highest temeperature during the summer months, for example.

[Nev]

Yes, although Armore Aero hasn't always been included, MS normally takes the highest of its four main Akld sites as its daily 'TV Temp'. I guess there's a pattern in that whichever site is warmest usually depends on which way the wind blows…

Presume they do the same for Wellington, Christchurch, anywhere else that has more than one site? Otherwise there is an obvious argument to be made Guess it does not matter as it's only TV, not climatology

Pretty sure MS only use Chch Aero for its Chch 'TV Temps'.

But yes, I think MS use both Kelburn and the airport for Wgtn, although I think the WCC also paid MS to set up another site on the front lawn of the Michael Fowler Centre a few years back to help boost their TV Temps - not sure if it's still there though?

A few other councils have also paid MS to setup and operate more favourable sites for the media, including Dunedin (Octagon rooftop site), New Plymouth and Hastings. Jim Salinger referred to this practice as 'temperature for tourism'…

[Richard]

Naa disagree we went down to CulVerden for supplies and it was noticeably cooler than the Hanmer basin yesterday

Not accordingly to the two PWS in and near Hanmer, they were both similar to Culverden, Medbury, Hurunui and Waipara

[Richard]

I like that term 'temperature for tourism', Hanmer is yet another example

[Nev]

I did a quick comparison of Hanmer temps last Dec. During that month MS's Hanmer Springs mean T-max was about 2C warmer than NIWA's Hanmer Forrest site, about 3C warmer than Medbury, and about 4C warmer than Culverden. That was just one month though.

[spwill]

I would like to see a more central location used for Auckland temperature but there is usually only a degree or two difference across Auckland in the maximums so no big deal.

[Richard]

I did a quick comparison of Hanmer temps last Dec. During that month MS's Hanmer Springs mean T-max was about 2C warmer than NIWA's Hanmer Forrest site, about 3C warmer than Medbury, and about 4C warmer than Culverden. That was just one month though.

Interesting. just goes to show how much buildings and paved surfaces can influence temperatures, NIWA's Hanmer Forrest site would only be about km away and even that site is quite sheltered. The Mt Isobel Place PWS on the west side of town has a golf course to its east and a riverbed to the west, this would be the closet true indicator of the areas temps.

[David]

I would like to see a more central location used for Auckland temperature but there is usually only a degree or two difference across Auckland in the maximums so no big deal.

Really they should have an official station in the domain in my opinion. Very central but shouldn't be badly affected by close proximity to hot roads/concrete.

On a separate note I finally got up on the roof this morning and tried to lubricate the shaft that the wind cups rotate on (with good old WD40) - it's been recording poorly in low wind speed conditions for a long time. Seems to have worked! We'll see if it lasts though...

[Captain Salty]

if the WD40 dries up I'd try 3-In-One oil.

[RWood]

I like that term 'temperature for tourism', Hanmer is yet another example

I like it too. Also, they are only talking about Tmax values - for some people, the minimum temperatures might be at least as important. These silly "contests" are usually conducted without reference to other climate elements. Whangarei has one of the highest annual average Tmax values in the country, but would sit well down my list of preferred NZ climates.

[Richard]

Warmest temperature today so far this side of winter, 25.9deg

[NZstorm]

On the airport data Twizel (Pukaki Airport) had the highest reading today of 26C.

[Dean.]

Warmest temperature today so far this side of winter, 25.9deg

Yes Hanmer basin and Culverden plains were the same temperature today cooled down near Waipara onwards....left Hanmer at 27 degrees stopped in Chch at a cool 18...seems to have a microclimate of its own in a sheltered basin

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

The man on TVNZ weather did mention Hanmer Springs being the nations high, but I can't remember what temperature it was?
I'm getting worried about my temperatures here as they seem to be much more than the MS or NIWA sites.
It seems to be much warmer here than Levels or the Ashburton airport but then you have to contend with the local hills, the "Downs" and the flat area away from there to the NE where Raukupuka is situated on the NE banks of the Waihi River.
The warmth here does reflect more so rather than places, say further east like Orari, Temuka or Milford.
It would be interesting to see what temperatures like what Pleasant Point would get?