NZ Weather Forum

Stumbled across this on social media. I wonder how the rest of the country fared in that event? Maybe it was a SSW year?

Link to the related news article of the day. Fascinating read
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newsp ... pe=ARTICLE

Would have been on the 16/09/1926, Christchurch had a maximum of 7.0C that day...

Gotta love the style of writing back then, 'pleasurabic anticipations of it pastimes'

I've just looked into the climate database archives at the oldest weather station in Antarctica, Base Orcadas. The coldest mean temperature it has recorded since the early 1900's until today was the years 1926 and 1927. It must of been a powerful polar vortex in those years Whether a SSW had anything to do with that event in Wellington will remain a mystery though, as weather balloon data only goes back to the late 1950's.

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newsp ... 60917.2.99

Note that the snow fell to sea-level on both sides of the South Island.

When I was in my early 20's I worked for a farmer who would have been in his 60's at the time, I remember him telling me that his family farmed on D'Urville Island and that they had a snowfall that fall around the homestead which was close to sea level. Going by his age that would have been about the same time.