Met society Newsemail (first part of March newsletter= January news clips)

 

Surfing skies by kite

The Press | Wednesday, 02 January 2008 DAVID HALLETT/The Press

AIRBORNE: kite surfer Anthony Hopkins flies above the Avon-Heathcote Estuary yesterday.

The easterly may be an ill wind to Christchurch beachgoers but for kite surfers like 13-year-old Anthony Hopkins it is a real lift.

Hopkins made the most of the cool breezes, gusting up to 33km/h, to get some big air on the Avon-Heathcote Estuary.

"It's just fun, and it gives you an adrenalin rush."

The north-easterlies kept Christchurch temperatures to a maximum of 19deg yesterday.

MetService forecaster Andy Downs said a switch to a north-westerly flow could see temperatures rise to 25deg today.

However, a southerly change tomorrow was expected to bring cool weather to most of the South Island, before a high began building on Friday, bringing strong north-easterlies.

-abridged-

 

Hottest day yesterday, more to come

Friday, 4 January 2008 By Jessica Wauchop, Gisborne Herald

 

CREATURES FROM THE DEEP : Elin Tawharau, 7, of Tauranga and Jamie Simes, 7, of Wellington had a lot of fun at Waikanae Beach yesterday. They are some of many visitors still in the region and enjoying Gisborne's hot weather. Picture by Paul Rickard

The long, lazy days of summer have begun in earnest, with yesterday having the highest temperature of the season so far.

At 28.1 degrees, it was the hottest day by 0.2deg -- beating the previous warmest day recorded back in spring.  Gisborne beaches were busy with summer frolickers, and the UV forecast was registered at an extreme level.

While the official MetService temperature was taken near the airport, other recordings around the city saw the temperature reach as high as 33deg.  Airport recordings are often affected by a sea breeze, and pockets of the Poverty Bay Flats away from the wind were expected to have risen higher than 28deg.

 

 

Kiwis seek out beaches as 2008 hots up fast

The Press | Thursday, 03 January 2008

STACY SQUIRES

FUN IN THE SUN: holidaymakers chill out in the Taylors Mistake surf yesterday. Canterbury basked in warm temperatures again yesterday, with Christchurch hitting a 30deg high.

 

Blenheim the sunniest spot in 2007

By CHERIE HOWIE - Marlborough Wednesday, 02 Jan 2008 stuff.co.nz

MAIKE VAN DER HEIDE/Marlborough Express

SOAKING IT UP: Blenheim has stolen the title of the country's sunshine capital from long-time rival Nelson.

It's official Blenheim is again the sunshine capital of New Zealand.

The town has wrestled the title from long-time rival Nelson after recording 2565.5 hours of sunshine in 2007, according to HortResearch. Nelson received 2513.8 hours according to the MetService.

The two centres were seemingly locked in a battle to the bitter end early last month with just 25.1 hours separating the two on December 9.

However, Blenheim has barely looked back since those dark days, slowly but surely increasing its lead over its old arch-rival.

Even a post-Christmas surge by Nelson, in which the city clawed back 8.5 hours of sunshine between December 24 and December 29, could not spoil Blenheim's moment.

The town once had a strong grasp on the sunshine honours but the title hasn't crossed the Whangamoas for at least six years.

Blenheim-based HortResearch scientist Rob Agnew said there was "no specific reason" for the switch.

"I think we got a wee lead earlier in the year and just held on. It's normally within 60 or 70 hours (between the two)."

Last year ranked as the 15th sunniest year on record for Blenheim for the 78 year period 1930-2007.

 

 

Downpour set to drench North Island

Monday January 07, 2008 NZ Herald

Photo / Greg Bowker

New Zealand's golden summer is about to come to an abrupt halt with a low pressure system set to hit much of the North Island in coming days.

The MetService says a cold, humid front will be moving across Wellington and the Hutt Valley tomorrow bringing 50 to 60mm of rain over six hours.

Auckland and the east coast can also expect plenty of wet weather.

But Metservice weather ambassador Bob McDavitt said it's not the end of the golden holiday weather.

"It's just washing the cars, watering the garden and filling up the water tanks," Mr McDavitt said.

He said a high will follow on the heels of the wet weather bringing fine spells to much of the country by the end of the week.

Meanwhile, temperatures are soaring into the high twenties in parts of the east coast of both islands.

Napier, Gisborne, Masterton and Christchurch can all expect highs of 29 today, while Hastings could get as hot as 31.

Mr McDavitt said campers in the Hawkes Bay and Gisborne areas may see some rain in the next couple of weeks but fine weather should settle in over the weekend.

 

Motorists urged to take care on flooded SH1

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 NZPA/3 News

Heavy rainfall in the Lower North Island has slowed motorists and caused swollen streams to burst their banks.

Motorists are being urged to take care on State Highway 1 between Otaki and Levin in Horowhenua, after massive downpours have left surface flooding.

Sergeant Noel Bigwood told NZPA the Tararua Ranges behind Otaki had so far today recorded 176.5mm - 14mm more than the previous daily record.

Mr Bigwood said the flooding across the highway had come from the Waitohu Stream that had burst its banks.

"It's causing a lot of disruption and we're advising people not to travel unless they really have to. And if they do, allow plenty of time."

Te Horo Beach Road was also flooded after the Mangaone Stream overflowed.

Mr Bigwood said the Mangaone Stream had gone from a flow of about three cubic metres a second to nearly 30.

"The Otaki (river) has gone from an absolute minimum flow to up near 800 cubic metres a second and the Waitohu's gone from virtually a dribble up to around 80 cubic metres a second."

Mr Bigwood said there were some tramping groups in the hills in the area, but they were well equipped and experienced groups who would be able to cope with the weather.

The MetService says while the rain is welcome in the area, the sheer quantity of it has caused problems. “Obviously some good news there because of the fact that it’s been very in dry in those areas,” MetService forecaster Andy Downs told 3 News. “But actually falling in such a short time means the rivers respond quite rapidly.”

 

Northland on alert with flood warning

Wednesday January 09, 2008 By Errol Kiong NZ Herald

Poor weather slowed play during day two of the Heineken Open yesterday. Photo / Greg Bowker

Up to 80mm of rain was expected to be dumped over Northland overnight with authorities on standby last night over the prospect of flooding.

The MetService issued a severe weather watch over Northland and northern Auckland yesterday, as a low and associated front were forecast to slowly cross the northern parts of the country.

The heaviest falls were expected over the eastern hills north of Orewa from yesterday evening, lasting through to this afternoon.

Weather ambassador Bob McDavitt said 60-80 mm of rain was expected over Northland over a nine-to-12-hour period. Flooding was likely.

"The whole of Northland is under the target of that incoming juicy rain belt."

Auckland gets off lightly, receiving only 10-20mm of rain over the same period. "It's pretty thin over the Auckland area."

It was part of the same front which plagued the South Island and lower North Island yesterday, said Mr McDavitt.

 

 

2007 marked by weather extremes - Niwa

Thursday January 10, 2008  NZ Herald

Haruru Falls Resort during major flooding in Northland during March.

For New Zealand weather watchers, 2007 was a year notable for the high number of severe events and weather extremes.

It was marked by too little rain in many places, but also by disastrous flooding in Northland, the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research said in its national climate summary released today.

There were record low rainfalls in some locations, and it was 60 per cent less than normal in parts of Marlborough, Canterbury and Central Otago, Niwa principal scientist Jim Salinger said.

There were drought conditions in the east of the North Island, an unprecedented swarm of tornadoes in Taranaki, destructive windstorms in Northland and in eastern New Zealand, and hot spells.

Dr Salinger said the year saw a swing from an El Nino to La Nina climate pattern and overall more anticyclones, or "highs", occurred.

The year's national average temperature was 12.7 deg C, with the highest annual mean being the 16.0 deg C at Whangarei Airport.

The highest temperature recorded was 33.5 deg C at Napier Airport on January 22, while the lowest was minus 15.4 deg C at Lauder in Central Otago on July 18.

Dr Salinger said rainfall was below normal throughout much of New Zealand, with Northland being the only region where it was above average.

The driest recording location was Alexandra with just 272mm of rain, while the Cropp River in Westland was the wettest with 8940mm.

Blenheim was the sunniest spot in the country with 2567 sunshine hours.

Of the five main centres, Auckland was the warmest and wettest, Christchurch the driest, Wellington the sunniest and Dunedin the coldest.

Dr Salinger said the most significant extreme event was the extraordinary swarm of damaging tornadoes that swept through Taranaki on July 4 and 5.

Damage in the central business district was severe, while at least 7000 homes in the region were without electricity after lightning strikes and damage to power lines.

The heaviest snowfall event happened between June 20 and 25, with Southland, Otago, the South Island high country and the central North Island affected.

The worst flooding was on March 28 and 29, and July 10 and 11.

In the first, historical daily records were swept aside in eastern parts of Northland as between 250mm to more than 400mm of rain fell.

The town of Kaeo was worst hit, with 254 mm of rainfall in 12 hours, and at least 23 houses flooded, the water being 1m high in places.

Windstorms (not including tornadoes) occurred on numerous occasions, with particularly severe instances in July and October.

A state of emergency was declared over July 9 to 11 in the Far North as easterlies struck, the winds leaving more than 140,000 people without electricity in Northland, Auckland and the Coromandel.

 

 

 

Exhausted kayakers going backwards

By MICHAEL FIELD - Fairfax Media | Friday, 11 January 2008

MARK DWYER/Daily News

HARDEST PART: Australian kayakers Justin Jones and James Castrission, battling fatigue, failing bodies, and tough conditions, are entering the most dangerous part of their journey across the Tasman as they approach New Zealand's coast afdter 60 days at sea.

 

 

Prophet of boom

January 11, 2008  Sydney Morning Herald

John Huxley profiles the rainmaker who shot at the sky.

It was soon after noon on September 26, 1902, that the first of the six big guns - giant Steiger Vortex guns, with long, funnel-shaped barrels, that reminded people of candle snuffers - were fired into the cloudy skies above Charleville. Boom! Boom! Boom!

Then, as now, the central Queensland town was deep in drought. In its desperation it had turned to firepower to shake the clouds, to produce rain.

According to contemporary reports, the cacophony from the cannons spooked a Chinaman's horse, upsetting his cart of fruit and rattled the heavens, but dislodged not a drop of rain. Subsequent volleys succeeded only in blowing apart two guns.

Townsfolk had been assured that similar guns had been used successfully to disperse damaging hailstorms over European vineyards, but present-day meteorologist Dick Whitaker of the Weather Channel says the plan had no scientific basis.

"It harked back to medieval days when people would set off cannons, fire volleys of arrows or ring church bells at advancing storms. Some great battles were fought in heavy rain, and people thought vibration from the gunfire had set it off.

"In fact, the amount of energy generated is relatively tiny," says Whitaker, who questions the efficacy even of modern "hail guns".

Despite the failure of the expensive experiment, Whitaker still admires its instigator, Clement Wragge, who subsequently left the town after an argument with the local council. "He was an eccentric, a real character, a loose cannon, a self-promoter," Whitaker says of a little-known man whose story will feature prominently when the Bureau Of Meteorology celebrates its centenary this year.

"He could communicate easily with the public, who generally liked him, but he did and said things that made the scientific community absolutely despair. In many ways he was, like the phenomena he studied, a 'natural disaster'."

Clement Lindley Wragge was born in Stourbridge in the English Midlands in 1852. With an erratically, endlessly inquiring mind, he studied law, navigation and, informally, medicine before working his way to Sydney on a windjammer in his 20s.

Thereafter, his life, like his interests, zig-zagged back and forth across not just Australia, but the world. From Adelaide he set off to survey the Flinders Ranges. In Salt Lake City in the US, he considered becoming a Mormon and embracing polygamy. Back home, he began working at a weather station first in Staffordshire, then in Scotland, on Ben Nevis, Britain's highest mountain. As Whitaker says: "You have to admire the determination of the man."

While his wife, who was to die on Ben Nevis in a blizzard, collected information from their home at sea level, Wragge would climb the mountain every day, four hours up, four hours down, to take readings.

By the time an observatory was established, Wragge had become so unpopular among his peers that he failed to win the job as superintendent. When, decades later, the first director of the bureau was sought, he was similarly shunned. Equipped with a new wife and enriched by a legacy from a wealthy aunt, he returned to Australia - to South Australia, where he established an observatory on Mount Lofty; then, four years later, to Queensland.

His arrival coincided with abnormal rainfall, for which he was nicknamed "Wet" and "Inclement" Wragge. Within years he gained another: "the Charleville Rainmaker".

As weather historian Tim Sherratt recorded, the fall-out from Wragge's failure was typical of the man. A pioneer of long-range forecasting and an energetic builder of weather stations, notably on Mount Kosciuszko and Mount Wellington, Tasmania, Wragge "had the unhelpful knack of alienating many of his colleagues. Styling himself as the 'boss weather prophet' and promulgating Australia-wide predictions from his 'chief weather bureau, Brisbane', he sought to claim the continent and the discipline his own".

He developed a convention of naming cyclones, first using Greek letters, then figures from Polynesian mythology and, more provocatively, politicians such as Edmund Barton and Alfred Deakin. Like cyclones, he argued, they were highly damaging.

Sherratt says Wragge increasingly found himself out of favour, "a weather prophet in the wilderness". After travelling through the Cook Islands, New Caledonia and Tahiti, he finally washed up, with a third wife, an Indian woman, in New Zealand.

His last home was in Birkenhead on Auckland's North Shore, which he described as the "sweetest nook in Maoridom … in God's own country". Here, he founded the Wragge Institute & Museum and the Waiata Observatory and Tropical Gardens.

In an essay for the Auckland historical society, Kim Adams recalled "a self-taught philosopher, meteorologist, geographer and showman who dressed in Indian-style apparel and … looked like a tall, turbaned scarecrow with a beard".

Wragge attracted many visitors to his home and garden, but as Adams noted, "his entire lack of feeling for social distinctions led to misunderstandings and jealousy … people expected behaviour that he could not conform to".

He died, praising "God, the master dynamo" and promoting suspicions that he had become a Muslim in 1922. Of his latter years in New Zealand almost nothing remains, but these days he is fondly remembered in Charleville, scene of his greatest disaster.

Two of the restored guns now stand in its Bicentennial Park, where signboards relate the story of how they were strapped to trees and fired into the heavens by the rainmaker.

The 68-year-old Charleville historian George Balsillie remembers one of the last times they were fired. "I was a youngster, apprenticed to this bloke Bob McWha, who had a blacksmith's workshop. When I started he pointed out this long, cone-shaped thing lying in the yard and said, 'Don't go throwing that out, it's a piece of history.' Apparently, some bloke turned up one day, probably 1947, very interested. Suggested they give it a bit of a test fire.

"They dug this thing up and strapped it to an electric light post next to the picture house. They got some gunpowder and made a bit of a fuse. Anyway, they didn't clear all the rubbish out of the barrel first. When it did go off, it went WHOMP, of course, but all these bloody feathers…and rubbish came flying out." But still no rain.

 

La Nina poses extra threat to farming

Sunday January 13, 2008 By Eloise Gibson  NZ Herald

Jim Salinger, of Niwa, has warned that a La Nina weather pattern spell could cause trouble for farmers. Photo / Glenn Jeffrey

Dairy farmers' golden run may be showing the first signs of slowing, as rising costs, dry weather and the United States credit crunch threaten to bite at agricultural profits.

Niwa's principal scientist, Jim Salinger, warned last week that a moderate to strong La Nina weather pattern could bring dry conditions to the west of the North Island and much of the South Island until April, causing trouble for farmers. – abridged-

 

 

Wet and wild as cyclone heads on over

21.01.2008 By JOEL FORD Bay of Plenty Times

PICTURE: CLAIRE DE BARR: A kite surfer at Tay St takes advantage of a windy weekend in the Bay yesterday.

MORE windy weather is expected in the Bay today and tomorrow with the possibility of heavy rain added to the mix due to a tropical cyclone passing close to New Zealand.

Tropical cyclone Funa moved into the Tasman Sea about 700km north of New Zealand late yesterday bringing wet weather to the Coromandel and Bay of Plenty.

"It's going to be a wet and windy couple of days," said MetService forecaster Bob Lake.  "The worst of the weather will be today and Tuesday. It should clear up by Wednesday," he said.

Mr Lake said today and tomorrow would be hot and humid with temperatures in the mid-20s. 

Once it had passed over the North Island, the MetService expects tropical cyclone Funa to lose intensity as it heads towards the South Island over the next few days.  This morning Funa, which originated north of Vanuatu, was several hundred kilometres off Cape Reinga and losing strength.  Strong southeasterly winds plagued the Western Bay over the weekend with gusts reaching about 35km/h.

Mr Lake said January through March was normally tropical cyclone season in New Zealand when the low pressure weather systems dropped down from Fiji and other Pacific islands and headed south to New Zealand.  The cyclones usually create bigger waves for east coast beaches and bring more rain. The last major cyclone to hit the Bay was tropical cyclone Ivy in March 2004, which brought huge swells and caused havoc on local beaches. It also claimed the lives of two Whakatane surfers after they had paddled out to take on huge waves off Opotiki.  Mr Lake said Funa was the first cyclone to come near New Zealand in sometime. –abridged-

 

Severe weather lashes north, moving south

Monday January 21, 2008 By Errol Kiong NZ Herald/NZPA

The remnants of tropical cyclone Funa will bring wet weather and strong winds to much of the North Island today. Photo / Richard Robinson

Heavy rain and severe winds are expected to be hit parts of the country tomorrow as Cyclone Funa moves south.

Metservice issued a severe weather warning, saying northerly winds were forecast to reach potentially damaging force between Taranaki and Nelson. Rain was also expected to become heavy overnight in the mountains and ranges from Mount Taranaki to Westland. Metservice spokesman Bob McDavitt said the cyclone could also bring a storm surge.  "Funa is no longer a tropical cyclone, but it is still a deep low and has tightly compacted isobars near its centre," he said "This low pressure centre is expected to cross northern parts of the South Island on Tuesday.

"The pressure pattern will become distorted by the mountains and the strongest winds are likely over southern parts of the North Island and about the Marlborough coast."

Strong onshore winds were forecast in the Nelson and Kapiti regions tomorrow morning with the storm likely to reach the Nelson and Buller coasts in the afternoon. Mr McDavitt said the combined effect of these may add about a third of a metre to the sea level, especially in Golden Bay and Tasman Bay.

 

Power being restored after gales

Jan 23, 2008   TVNZ

Power company workers have restored electricity to most homes affected by gale force winds which caused damage over much of central New Zealand. Around 5,000 PowerCo customers in Taranaki, Wanganui, Rangitikei, Manawatu and Wairarapa were still affected on Tuesday night after up to 16,000 homes had their power disrupted during the day.

MetService says winds reached up to 130 kilometres an hour in some parts of Hawke’s bay and Wairara during the day.  A Wellington police spokeswoman says a pane of glass blew out of a warehouse on Aotea Quay, narrowly missing cars. There were also reports of trampolines blowing around and trees falling down. -abridged

 

High winds wreak havoc across district

23.01.2008 By MARY BRYAN Wanganui Chronicle

 

CAPTION: High winds caused a fire to race quickly through this patch of scrub and threaten a cottage near the Mowhanau Beach water supply tank before it was brought under control.

WANGANUI Fire Service, Powerco linesmen and police were caught up last night on the fringes of Cyclone Funa, which has caused havoc through the lower North Island.

High winds have fanned fires, lifted roofs and downed power lines in Wanganui, the Central Plateau, Rangitikei, Taranaki and the Manawatu.  The winds also caused power faults on the citys radio transmitters on Bastia Hill. The Radio Network on the Water Tower and RadioWorks in Shakespeare Rd. Transmission for both stations was cut about 4.15pm.  

South of Waiouru, near SH1, a large fire broke out at 1.20pm. Doused by helicopters together with fire crews from Taihape and the Waiouru army brigade, it was under control last night.  However, last night another major fire north of Bulls on Brandon Hall Rd was still being fought by fire brigades from Bulls, Marton, Palmerston North, Ratana, Rongotea and Ohakea Air Base.

The fire started at 3.45pm in a hay shed and spread into a pine plantation.  Four helicopters, nine Fire Service and rural fire crews and tanker crews were at the fire.

 

Heavens weep farewell to Sir Edmund Hillary

By Paul Chapman 23/01/2008  Daily Telegraph, London

Sir Edmund Hillary, who conquered Mount Everest in one of the twentieth century's defining moments, was given a fond and emotional farewell in New Zealand.

His body had lain in state at the neighbouring Holy Trinity Anglican Cathedral with an honour guard as thousands of mourners filed past. Persistent rain and blustery conditions have not deterred the crowds.

As the rain cleared and the sun shone through a sombre sky for the funeral, some mourners observed that even nature had played its part.  A spell of hot, dry summer weather broke on Sunday at the start of the official mourning period, when the remnants of a tropical cyclone deluged Auckland and most of the country.

In Maori lore, the heavens weep when a truly noble spirit has passed away.

 

It's lovely weather - but not for dairy farmers

Wednesday January 30, 2008 By Owen Hembry NZ Herald

 

 

 

Charlie Pedersen.

Stunning summer weather might be making holidaymakers happy but it is expected to hit dairy production this season.

Dry weather is traditionally one of the biggest threats to New Zealand's economic growth. A serious drought in 1997 and 1998 cost the country about $1 billion in earnings and contributed to a recession. 

Federated Farmers president Charlie Pedersen said dairy farmers were drying off and culling cows earlier than normal. "That's a natural and first step of a farmer who's facing a feed deficit," Pedersen said.

MetService Weather Ambassador Bob McDavitt said droughts could be defined by a dry period of about 21 days, regions with the least rain, soil moisture content or by the drought code used to calculate the fire weather index. A drought code reading above 500 was considered serious.  As a rule of thumb two weeks without rain was enough to stop grass growing. Palmerston North has been 20 days without rain, although there had been torrential rain on the Tararua Ranges earlier in the month, while Waikato has had less than 10mm of rain in January. "I think it's just that they're unlucky," McDavitt said. "It is a La Nina summer and the Waikato is expected to get its normal rainfall during February."

Westpac tracks the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI), which measures air pressure fluctuations between Tahiti and Darwin. SOI readings taken in December were on the verge of being considered strong La Nina conditions, which usually brought northeasterly winds, moisture and rain to the north-east of the North Island.