New Zealand Weather

[knocker]

Strong cyclone to bring cold Antarctic air to New Zealand Sunday - plenty of snow along coastal mountains.

 

pic.twitter.com/SrIxharWGL

 

Near surf temp anomaly shows the clockwise flow around Low pressure SE of New Zealand dragging Antarctic air north

 

pic.twitter.com/NHqJqrnu5s

[knocker]

 

Ski operators throughout New Zealand are feeling the effects of the country's warmest start to the Southern Hemisphere winter since record-keeping began in 1909. And while one bad season doesn't prove a trend, it comes at a time when scientists say the country's snow pack and glaciers are melting at an alarming rate due to climate change. - See more at: http://www.coastreporter.net/snow-missing-from-new-zealand-s-ski-slopes-at-a-time-when-scientists-say-glaciers-are-melting-1.1295640#sthash.Z0h3Udaq.AFxjMwWx.dpuf

[BARRY]

snowing in Christchurch at the mo

[Kiwi]

snowing in Christchurch at the mo

Looking at the traffic cams I can't see anything laying in Christchurch.

 

It does look to be settling around Dunedin  http://www.nzta.govt.nz/traffic/current-conditions/webcams/dunedin.html

[stewfox]

Looking at the traffic cams I can't see anything laying in Christchurch.

 

It does look to be settling around Dunedin  http://www.nzta.govt.nz/traffic/current-conditions/webcams/dunedin.html

 

Blizzard conditions across the South Island but generally above 1000ft

 

http://www.3news.co.nz/Weather-Gales-rip-through-the-South-Island/tabid/423/articleID/355847/Default.aspx

[Styx]

 

Trans-Tasman seesaw?

By Gerg, on August 10th, 2014

You can’t watch snow weather in our part of the world for long without noticing that when things are good in Australia, they’re often not so good in New Zealand, and when they’re bad here, they usually look much better over there. Take this season — in late June and early July we had a series of good snowfalls while NZ struggled; then in late July our snow weather pretty much shut down, and ever since it seems to have been snowing steadily in NZ (especially in the North). Is this a real effect, or just a nice illusion? Lets look at the data....

http://gergs.net/2014/08/tasman-seesaw/

Edited August 14, 2014 by Styx

[Chris W]

It didn't really snow in Christchurch, a few flakes but nothing more than that.  It may struggle to this winter, as the strongest anticyclone I have ever seen moves in for the next week at the very least:

 

Edited August 23, 2014 by Chris W

[Summer of 95]

It didn't really snow in Christchurch, a few flakes but nothing more than that. It may struggle to this winter, as the strongest anticyclone I have ever seen moves in for the next week at the very least:

Capture.JPG

Wow I've never seen an anticyclone like that anywhere but Siberia in winter! 1035-1040 down by the Auckland Islands must be a pretty rare event.

Now I'm just looking again at the longitude/latitude and trying to put that on a map of the North Atlantic. The 1020+ area would go from Iceland to Cape Verde and Bermuda to the Balkans. No, never seen one that big.

Edited August 23, 2014 by Summer of 95

[Chris W]

Yep, started with anticyclonic gloom this morning but sunny spells now at 1036hpa.  Looking at morning cloud and afternoon sun for at least a week.  Westerlies not really getting a look in.

Edited August 24, 2014 by Chris W

[Styx]

Apparently the highest barometric reading ever recorded in New Zealand is 1045.9 at Wellington in 1889.

Recent years have seen very intense systems amplifying over the Tasman Sea between Tasmania and New Zealand.

[Chris W]

A storm popped up out of almost nowhere today and rumbled south past Christchurch.  I saw several spectacular CG and IC bolts, and heard one very loud peal of thunder.  Amazingly, even though the storm came so close I stood watching it in the dry and in the sun for most of the time.

 

[Chris W]

New Zealand could be on the verge of a significant drought:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11387085

 

In fact we pretty much are about to have some kind of drought.  Nationwide there is a real shortage of rain, soils are very dry and the scrub fire risk is already extreme.

https://www.niwa.co.nz/climate/daily-climate-maps

http://fireweather.nrfa.org.nz/

 

Our garden is tinder-dry in places.  Christchurch airport has been reporting month after month of below to well-below average rainfall, and so far this month, 18 days in, we have had 4mm of rain!  Added to this have been a few days now of northwesterlies, which are hot and dry - today we reached 32C after a high of 25 yesterday and a solid overnight temperature of 22C.  Tonight it will likely stay around 15-20C, and tomorrow is 27C with more northwesterlies.  In rural areas the temperatures are higher and the hot winds stronger, and this is where the farms are.  See the Past Climate section of the below page for the last 30 days of rainfall, temperature and wind direction for Christchurch:

http://www.metservice.com/towns-cities/christchurch/christchurch

[Chris W]

El Nino conditions are now present in the tropical Pacific Ocean with a 60% chance of continuing, after Cyclone Pam provided a strong westerly burst of wind to reverse the trades.  Here's Metservice New Zealand's blog:

 

http://about.metservice.com/homepagerss/

 

April outlook for NZ from Metservice:

http://www.metservice.com/rural/seasonal-outlook

Edited March 31, 2015 by Chris W

[knocker]

Freezing Polar airmass over the wekend

Chart weatherbell

 

[Styx]

It's a crazy cold outbreak for April for NZ. Snow to 200m in the far south, and to 400m more generally on the South island today.

http://tvnz.co.nz/weather-forecast/evening-report-apr-12-video-6281497

[keithlucky]

Winter hits New Zealand south islands http://iceagenow.info/2015/06/nz-south-island-wakes-to-record-freeze/

[stewfox]

"""Complaints about the cold weather this month are justified, as some parts of the country have reported their lowest temperatures.

More than 30 weather stations around New Zealand have also had daily maximum temperature recordings that are either the lowest ever recorded, or at least in the top four coldest for July"".

 

 

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/70200528/its-a-recordbreaking-winter-so-far

Edited July 16, 2015 by stewfox

[RWood43]

"""Complaints about the cold weather this month are justified, as some parts of the country have reported their lowest temperatures.

More than 30 weather stations around New Zealand have also had daily maximum temperature recordings that are either the lowest ever recorded, or at least in the top four coldest for July"".

 

 

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/70200528/its-a-recordbreaking-winter-so-far

 

This will be the first July in NZ with a temperature deficit since 2009. Not a reflection of the YTD status however.

[Kiwi]

Interesting insight of the day to day effects of El Nino on New Zealand weather.

http://www.weatherwatch.co.nz/content/el-ni%C3%B1o-update-mondays-weather-video

 

I'm heading out on Friday for 10 days and looks like I'll be greeted by wet and windy weather when I land in Auckland on Saturday.

Best I pack a waterproof along with my shorts and jandals.

[Chris W]

Supercells galore in Canterbury yesterday, large hail and a tornado:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/75057881/hail-gone-but-thunder-may-return-in-christchurch.html

The hail downdraught took the temperature from 20C to 6C!

 

[Chris W]

Looking forward to the maximum temperature on Monday with this hot Aussie airmass and the foehn wind off the Alps, though sleeping may be hard Sunday night!

 

 

[Kiwi]

18 minutes ago, Chris W said:

Looking forward to the maximum temperature on Monday with this hot Aussie airmass and the foehn wind off the Alps, though sleeping may be hard Sunday night!

 

 

Hi Chris, I saw that the Met service are forecasting 33c on Monday, though the night temps are looking way lower.

Enjoy the sunshine!....its grey and gloomy here in the UK.

[Chris W]

On 12/16/2015 at 9:12 AM, Kiwi said:

Hi Chris, I saw that the Met service are forecasting 33c on Monday, though the night temps are looking way lower.

Enjoy the sunshine!....its grey and gloomy here in the UK.

Mid-thirties IMO, we had 31C in October with a cooler airmass than that.  Record in Rangiora is 41C!

[Kiwi]

Darfield, Canterbury 27c at 8am!

[Methuselah]

It's quite unusual to see record-breaking warmth, in both hemispheres at the same time??