Meteorological Society Of New Zealand (Inc.)Glenn has been involved with numerous climate and health...

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Meteorological Society Of New Zealand (Inc.)

NEWSLETTER 117

JUNE 2009

Meteorological Society of New Zealand Newsletter - June 2009 -

Meteorological Society Of New Zealand (Inc.)

NEWSLETTER 117 JUNE 2009

PO Box 6523, Marion Square, Wellington 6141, New Ze aland

Please forward contributions to Bob McDavitt,

[email protected]

CONTENTS Page

Call for nominations 3

Regional Reports 4-5

Annual conference 7

Rupert Wood’s Seasonal Analysis 8-13

Autumn—NIWA 15

Autumn-Christchurch 16

Autumn– Weather highlights 17-27

Autumn– in the media 28-45

Your new Committee

President Mike Revell [email protected]

Immediate Past President Kim Dirks k.dirks@auckla nd.ac.nz

Auckland VP Jennifer Salmond j.salmond@aucklan d.ac.nz

Wellington VP James Renwick [email protected]

Christchurch VP Michael Titov [email protected] Dunedin VP vacant

Secretary Sam Dean [email protected]

Treasurer Cliff Revell [email protected]

Circulation Manager Sylvia Nichol s.nicol@niw a.co.nz

Journal Editor Brian Giles [email protected]

Newsletter Editor Bob McDavitt [email protected]

Wed Editor Peter Knudsen Peter.Knudsen@metservi ce.com

Hydrological Society Liaison Charles Pearson c.pea [email protected]

General Committee

Jim Salinger [email protected]

Stacey Dravitzki [email protected]

Katrina Richards [email protected]

Sally Garrett [email protected]

Gareth Renowden [email protected]

Views and endorsements expressed in this newsletter are those of the contributors and advertisers, and not necessarily those of the Meteorological Society of New Zealand.

The mention of specific companies or products does not imply that they are endorsed or recommended by the Society.


Call For Nominations (Deadline, July31,2009)

The Edward Kidson Medal The Meteorological Society of New Zealand (Inc) is now calling for nominations for the Ed-ward Kidson Medal. The award is made every two years and was first awarded in 2003. The award is named in honour of Edward Kidson, Director of the New Zealand Meteorological Service from 1927 to 1939. Kidson was instrumental in placing New Zealand meteorology on a sound scientific footing and is regarded as a key figure in the development of meteorology and climatology in this country. His own scientific work in meteorology covered a wide field and he had an international reputation for his papers on Southern Hemisphere atmospheric circulation. His papers on New Zealand’s climate remained standard works for many years. a The Edward Kidson Medal will be awarded to the author of an outstanding scientific paper published in a refereed scientific journal during the preceding three years, which: ● advances the science of meteorology and/or climatology, or ● advances understanding of the influence of meteorology and/or climatology or other mete-orological factors in other fields of scientific or human endeavour, or conversely, the influ-ence of other sciences or endeavours on meteorology and/or climatology, or ● reports on significant and novel scientific, educational, social or economic application of meteorology and/or climatology. Nominees for the Edward Kidson medal should normally be New Zealand residents, but oth-ers who have a significant connection with New Zealand, particularly in the field of the atmos-pheric sciences will be considered. All nominations must either be by a current member of the Meteorological Society of New Zealand or include a written endorsement by a current member. Nominations, with supporting statements and including copies of the relevant pa-per, should be posted or emailed to The Secretary Meteorological Society of New Zealand (inc) PO Box 6523 Marion Square Wellington 6141 OR [email protected] The deadline for nominations is July31, 2009 The winner, if any, will be announced in September 2009


REGIONAL REPORTS AUCKLAND Richard McKenzie of NIWA, a world authority on UV from Lauder, gave a talk on 7 April at NIWA Auckland, open to Met Soc members, on “How to balance your benefits and risks of solar UV exposure" It is well known that overexposure to UV radiation causes sunburn, which can lead to skin cancer. New Zealand has one of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world. How-ever, there is also a risk from underexposure to UV, since it leads to the production of beneficial vitamin D in our bod-ies. Many New Zealanders have below-optimum vitamin D for health, and it is not generally available from diet. I in-vestigate relationships between erythemally-weighted UV radiation that leads to sunburn (which can lead to skin can-cer) and vitamin D-weighted radiation that is responsible for synthesis of vitamin D (which protects against many conditions including bowel cancer). An algorithm is devel-

oped using spectral measurements undertaken at Lauder Central Otago, and is used to relate vitamin D production to the widely-used UV Index. This is then used to calculate the behav-ioural patterns (exposure times and attire) required to enable the public to optimize their ex-posure to UV radiation. In the New Zealand summer at noon, there should be sufficient UV to photosynthesize optimal vitamin D in ~1 minute for full body exposure, whereas skin damage occurs after ~15 minutes. Further, while it should be possible to photosynthesise vitamin D in the winter, the amount of skin that must be exposed is larger than from the hands and face alone. This raises the question of whether the action spectrum for vitamin D production is correct, since previous studies have reported that production of vitamin D is not possible in the winter at mid-latitudes. However, evidence suggests that some supplementation of vita-min D is desirable, at least in the south island winter. I describe how a new HRC-funded re-search project involving NIWA addresses these questions by tracking personal UV exposure and relating this to vitamin D status. The presentation is based on a paper that will soon appear in photochem photobiol website at www.photobiology.org . For a pdf of this PowerPoint check out http://tinyurl.com/n6kxo8 (use newsletter password) CLIMATE AND HEALTH Guest speaker: Dr. Glenn McGregor gave a talk at NIWA, Auckland on 19 June entitled "Heat waves - Causes, consequences, and responses". Principal climate and health research questions of interest to Glenn are (a) what is the role of climate as a stressor on health? (b) are climate based predictions of health outcomes possible for a range of timescales? (c) to what extent might climate variability and change affect health and existing or predicted stresses on health? (d) what are the uncertainties associated with climate change related health projections? (e) what is the nature of the interaction between extreme weather and climate anomalies and the urban socio-economic landscape in terms of health outcomes? (f) does society possess the capacity to adapt to climate variability and change through modifications to health infrastructure, management and policy by adopting specific adaptive measures? Glenn has been involved with numerous climate and health research projects, such as sea-sonal climate forecasting and health in the UK, investigating London's urban heat island, ex-perimental heat health watch warning systems for 5 European cities, as well as the develop-ment and testing of summer season health forecasting models.


WELLINGTON At our Special General Meeting held in Wellington on 18 March, there were two brief seminars. 1. Mike Revell, our President, spoke on "The Meteorol-ogy of the recent Australian bushfires" Mike was in Mel-bourne on what is now known as "Black Saturday" and in this talk he described what it feels like to be in 46.8 degrees with 100 km an hour winds. For a pdf of this PowerPoint check out http://tinyurl.com/nxz78p (use newsletter password) 2. James Renwick presented a PowerPoint compiled by Joe Kidston and Sam Dean (our Secretary), on “Climate Change and the SAM/HLM” . This talk investigated trends in the Southern Annular Mode, and the possibili-ties of a poleward shift of the jetstream For a pdf of this PowerPoint check out http://tinyurl.com/n25tqs (use newsletter password)

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> CHRISTCHURCH (Met soc Vice President Mikhail Titov) The Christchurch branch of the Meteorological Society of New Zealand recently held several interesting lectures and presentations at the Department of Geography (the University of Can-terbury). Most of the scientific activity was at the beginning of the first semester and before winter student’s exams. Prof. Nigel Tapper (Head of Department of the Environmental Science, Monash University,

Australia) as visiting Erskine Fellow of the department made two presentations: 1) “The climate change – urban climate nexus: some re-flections from Melbourne, Australia” (10 of March 2009)”. Prof. Tapper showed very serious problems with water in Melbourne and outlined a possibility of the Australian government to use stormy waters. This possibility is now under development at his depart-ment; 2) “Aeolian Dust in the Environment: Towards New Un-derstandings of Some Critical Impacts” (31 of March 2009). Dr. Steve George (University of Canterbury) made a presentation “Ozone and Temperature over Antarctica: Co-variability and Change” (17 of March 2009) showing the results of numerical modelling over Antarctic with

application of MM5 and RAMS. Visiting Erskine Fellow Dr. Jim Hansom (University of Glasgow, Scotland) presented very in-teresting research: “Copying with sea level change?” and showed (using GIS) change of big cit-ies (like London) street topography regarding to Global Warming and subsequent potential remarkable increase of sea level. Prof. Glenn McGregor (School of Geography, Geology & Environmental Science (SGGES), Uni-versity of Auckland) made a presentation “Heat Waves: Causes, Consequences and Re-sponses” (15 of June 2009). Originally this presentation was proposed on 18 of May but was postponed on one month. Prof. Glenn McGregor has displayed the most hazardous conse-quences associated with heat waves in different areas (health, engineering, hydrology-biology). For more about this talk see the Auckland report.


Following NIWA’s recent dismissal of Jim Salinger, our President wrote a letter of support to Jim in recognition of the huge contribution that Jim has made over the past 20 years to the Met Society, including being our Secretary (a sometimes thankless role!) for most of ten years, President for two, general committee member for many more, including now, and a profes-sional conference planner in the past and this year, helping to organise our upcoming confer-ence wit the NZMSS Conference to be held in Auckland in September. We consider Jim to be a valuable committee member, colleague, and scientist. We hope that his enthusiasm and dedication to science will not be dampened by recent events and that he will continue to be an active committee member and a significant positive influence on our Society.


SEASONAL ANALYSIS, By Rupert Wood Introduction The following tables use a minor modification of an idea from the “USA Today” weather alma-nacs to define the temperature seasons for a particular location. Given a suitable quantity (say at least 30 years’ worth) of daily maximum and minimum temperature observations, cal-culate the means from these two values, and then compute the average of those means for each day of the year. The highest and lowest of these 366 values define the annual tempera-ture range (but see the comment below on a slight modification of this definition). Calculate the 1/4 and 3/4 marks on the scale. All values above the 3/4 line are “summer” ones, all those below the 1/4 line are “winter” ones, and the remainder are assigned to spring and autumn. For example, if the top value is 20.0 and the bottom one 10.0, the two boundaries are at 12.5 and 17.5. The NZ data used 32 locations were selected. Raw data was downloaded from NIWA’s CliFlo database. Wherever possible, at least 30 years of data were used, consistent with avoiding hybrid sites if feasible, with the data as current as possible. In the case of Alexandra, several site changes made it nec-essary to use data prior to 1983. It is unlikely that patterns there have changed much since then. When examining the daily means, it was found that these have significant daily fluctua-tions even on 50+-year timescales, so to avoid outlier effects the top and bottom values used were the averages of the warmest and coolest 7-day periods, instead of those for single days. Table 1 lists the stations, the length and completeness of the raw data, and the dates of the warmest and coolest 14-day periods of the year. These dates cannot be taken too literally in light of the fact that there are sometimes some close contenders for the extreme 14-day val-ues, but the consistency of the early July dates for the coldest fortnight is striking. Even in the case of Kaitaia, July is the coldest month, though the July-August difference is small. There is considerably more variation in the dates of the warmest fortnight, reflecting the fact that January and February are equally warm for the country as a whole, with northernmost places warmest in February and a large portion of the south warmest in January. Season data Table 2 shows the start and duration of each season. The table is ordered by average seasonal latency (defined later – smallest values at the top), to show up the contrasts better. The length of a season is a measure of the amount of clustering in that part of the temperature spectrum, with summer slightly longer than winter on average, but with quite a large range over the sites for both (44 days for summer, 26 days for winter). For summer and winter lengths, there is quite a strong association with the overall latency – entries high in the table generally have longer summer periods and shorter winter ones, and conversely near the bottom. If one com-pares summer start with summer length, there is a very strong association – earlier starts cor-relate very highly with longer durations, so there is no correspondingly earlier finish.


Table 1: Station list

Station #

years % com-

plete Warmest 14-day Coolest 14-day

Alexandra 53 99.8 25 Jan=>07 Feb 02 Jul=>15 Jul

Blenheim 37 99.9 26 Jan=>08 Feb 04 Jul=>17 Jul

Christchurch Aero 54 100.0 21 Jan=>03 Feb 03 Jul=>16 Jul

Craigieburn Forest 37 97.9 29 Jan=>11 Feb 01 Jul=>14 Jul

Gisborne Aero 58 99.9 18 Jan=>31 Jan 03 Jul=>16 Jul

Hamilton, Ruakura 57 99.5 05 Feb=>18 Feb 05 Jul=>18 Jul

Hokitika Aero 45 100.0 07 Feb=>20 Feb 04 Jul=>17 Jul

Invercargill Aero 60 99.9 30 Jan=>12 Feb 04 Jul=>17 Jul

Kaikoura 37 99.8 22 Jan=>04 Feb 04 Jul=>17 Jul

Kaitaia 23 99.8 08 Feb=>21 Feb 11 Aug=>24 Aug

Kerikeri 27 98.0 02 Feb=>15 Feb 01 Jul=>14 Jul

Masterton 48 98.5 26 Jan=>08 Feb 04 Jul=>17 Jul

Milford Sound 60 98.8 05 Feb=>18 Feb 05 Jul=>18 Jul

Mt Cook Village 40 98.4 30 Jan=>12 Feb 05 Jul=>18 Jul

Dunedin, Musselburgh 60 99.9 29 Jan=>11 Feb 04 Jul=>17 Jul

Napier 69 99.2 22 Jan=>04 Feb 04 Jul=>17 Jul

Nelson Aero 65 95.3 22 Jan=>04 Feb 03 Jul=>16 Jul

New Plymouth Aero 48 99.9 04 Feb=>17 Feb 04 Jul=>17 Jul

Opotiki 54 96.0 30 Jan=>12 Feb 01 Jul=>14 Jul

Auckland, Owairaka 57 99.1 10 Feb=>23 Feb 03 Jul=>16 Jul

Palmerston North 69 99.7 30 Jan=>12 Feb 04 Jul=>17 Jul

Queenstown 60 99.1 09 Jan=>22 Jan 04 Jul=>17 Jul

Rotoiti 34 97.9 05 Feb=>18 Feb 03 Jul=>16 Jul

Rotorua Aero 37 99.9 30 Jan=>12 Feb 01 Jul=>14 Jul

Taupo 44 98.0 27 Jan=>09 Feb 04 Jul=>17 Jul

Tauranga Aero 47 99.3 27 Jan=>09 Feb 05 Jul=>18 Jul

Lake Tekapo 45 98.5 27 Jan=>09 Feb 05 Jul=>18 Jul

Timaru 60 99.6 20 Jan=>02 Feb 04 Jul=>17 Jul

Waiouru 37 96.9 30 Jan=>12 Feb 02 Jul=>15 Jul

Wanganui 37 99.2 17 Jan=>30 Jan 28 Jun=>11 Jul

Wellington, Kelburn 78 100.0 22 Jan=>04 Feb 04 Jul=>17 Jul

Westport Aero 43 98.1 10 Feb=>23 Feb 03 Jul=>16 Jul


Table 2: Seasons

SUMMER AUTUMN WINTER SPRING

STATION Start Length Start Length Start Length Start Length

Alexandra 11-Nov 136 27-Mar 55 21-May 93 22-Aug 81

Queenstown 27-Nov 120 27-Mar 54 20-May 102 30-Aug 89

Invercargill Aero 26-Nov 122 28-Mar 55 22-May 100 30-Aug 88

Milford Sound 30-Nov 121 31-Mar 54 24-May 95 27-Aug 95

Rotoiti 1-Dec 111 22-Mar 62 23-May 105 5-Sep 87

Christchurch Aero 30-Nov 114 24-Mar 61 24-May 103 4-Sep 87

Lake Tekapo 28-Nov 120 28-Mar 61 28-May 93 29-Aug 91

Timaru 26-Nov 124 30-Mar 54 23-May 103 3-Sep 84

Mt Cook Village 2-Dec 114 26-Mar 60 25-May 98 31-Aug 93

Craigieburn Forest 7-Dec 105 22-Mar 61 22-May 105 4-Sep 94

Dune-din,Musselburgh 29-Nov 123 1-Apr 53 24-May 101 2-Sep 88

Wanganui 30-Nov 117 27-Mar 58 24-May 105 6-Sep 85

Blenheim 27-Nov 122 29-Mar 60 28-May 99 4-Sep 84

Napier 1-Dec 110 21-Mar 66 26-May 107 10-Sep 82

Taupo 1-Dec 112 23-Mar 62 24-May 109 10-Sep 82

Nelson Aero 1-Dec 116 27-Mar 59 25-May 104 6-Sep 86

Masterton 9-Dec 100 19-Mar 65 23-May 109 9-Sep 91

Gisborne Aero 2-Dec 109 21-Mar 66 26-May 109 12-Sep 81

Hamilton, Ruakura 5-Dec 109 24-Mar 65 28-May 102 7-Sep 89

Waiouru 6-Dec 105 21-Mar 65 25-May 111 13-Sep 84

Palmerston North 5-Dec 113 28-Mar 60 27-May 104 8-Sep 88

Rotorua Aero 5-Dec 111 26-Mar 61 26-May 109 12-Sep 84

Hokitika Aero 12-Dec 109 31-Mar 55 25-May 102 4-Sep 99

Kaikoura 7-Dec 109 26-Mar 66 31-May 106 14-Sep 84

Tauranga Aero 11-Dec 105 26-Mar 63 28-May 108 13-Sep 89

New Plymouth Aero 14-Dec 101 25-Mar 67 31-May 101 9-Sep 96

Westport Aero 14-Dec 106 30-Mar 56 25-May 110 12-Sep 93

Wellington, Kelburn 11-Dec 108 29-Mar 60 28-May 108 13-Sep 89

Opotiki 9-Dec 113 1-Apr 57 28-May 110 15-Sep 85

Auckland, Owairaka 11-Dec 108 29-Mar 62 30-May 111 18-Sep 84

Kerikeri 17-Dec 101 28-Mar 63 30-May 113 20-Sep 88

Kaitaia 25-Dec 92 27-Mar 64 30-May 119 26-Sep 90

Average 4-Dec 112.1 26-Mar 60.3 26-May 104.8 7-Sep 87.8

Range in days 44 44 13 13 11 26 35 18


Latency (seasonal delay) This is a simple formula for the lateness or delay of a season, using the equinox/solstice as a baseline. For a given season, the midpoint date is taken, and the average date of the equinox or solstice is subtracted from it. For New Zealand, the expectation is that allowing for latitudes, the smallish distances from the sea, and the prevailing winds, the highest values will be in west-ern and northern areas, more particularly in the North Island, with smaller values (i.e. less effect from the ocean and prevailing windflows) in eastern districts and inland areas, espe-cially in the South Island, given the barrier provided by the Alps. While the differences across the majority of the country are not large, the overall range is quite high for a small maritime country, and it is interesting to try and make some sense of it. Spring shows the greatest vari-ability, while autumn has the least. Table 3 gives values for each season, with the average of these determining the order of the site listing. Alexandra heads the list, with its spring and to a lesser extent summer values be-ing easily the lowest. Its valley basin location allows fogs and hoar frosts, which are common in winter, but the occurrences are skewed to the early part of the cool season – August is much sunnier than May on average, and the July-September period is Alexandra’s driest. August is 2.3C warmer than July on average, while June is only 0.2C warmer than July. Spring north-westerlies contribute to its early start for summer. Queenstown’s winter is less affected by fogs than Alexandra’s, but the mountainous surroundings may help to keep its latency numbers low by increasing the importance of available daylight. It may seem sur-prising that Invercargill ranks so high on the list, but April-June is its wettest and rainiest pe-riod, with a marked drop to the driest part, July-September, while April-June is also the cloudiest period. To a lesser extent Milford Sound has a similar rainfall difference between April-May and July-August, but the Queenstown factor may apply as well. Tekapo values are no lower than those on the Canterbury coast, with the spring northwesterly overspill effects and late summer rainfall minima probably a factor in that result. With seven times Tekapo’s rainfall, the values for the Mt Cook settlement in an overspill rainfall region are nevertheless very similar to Tekapo. Spring lengths are shorter than summer or winter ones, with autumn by far the shortest (as expected), autumn also having the least variability in length (though it anti-correlates quite strongly with duration). Alexandra stands out for summer values at the top of the table, with Kaitaia and Kerikeri most noteworthy at the other end. The winter start dates do not vary very much, but like the summer ones they correlate quite strongly with latency. The winter lengths at Alexandra, Tekapo and Milford are considerably shorter than at Kaitaia. This is in turn reflected in a range of 35 days in the spring start dates, between Alexandra and Kaitaia. I have made an attempt to explain more of the variations between sites in the next section, where latency is defined. Values on the South Island east coast from Dunedin northwards and for Blenheim and Nelson vary little, with the latter places being sheltered from prevailing winds. Those in the east coast of the North Island are only very slightly higher. Kaikoura is an anomaly, probably be-cause of the very exposed coastal headland where the station is sited. It could be of interest to extract data for Akaroa for a comparison. It is not clear to me why Wanganui is not lower in the list. Palmerston North, Waiouru, Hamilton and Rotorua are intermediate between the eastern values and the remainder – Westland, Bay of Plenty, Wellington, the west of the North Island from Taranaki north, and Northland. Bay of Plenty locations have in common with the western ones a spring which is cloudier and more unsettled than late autumn. The values in Northland are clearly highest, especially in the case of spring.


Table 3: Seasonal and average latencies

STATION SUM AUT WIN SPR Average

Alexandra 27.0 34.0 15.0 8.5 21.1

Queenstown 35.0 33.5 18.5 20.5 26.9

Invercargill Aero 35.0 35.0 19.5 20.0 27.4

Milford Sound 38.5 37.5 19.0 20.5 28.9

Rotoiti 34.5 32.5 23.0 25.5 28.9

Christchurch Aero 35.0 34.0 23.0 24.5 29.1

Lake Tekapo 36.0 38.0 22.0 20.5 29.1

Timaru 36.0 36.5 22.0 22.0 29.1

Mt Cook Village 37.0 35.5 21.5 23.5 29.4

Craigieburn Forest 37.5 32.0 22.0 28.0 29.9

Dunedin, Musselburgh 38.5 38.0 22.0 23.0 30.4

Wanganui 36.5 35.5 24.0 25.5 30.4

Blenheim 36.0 38.5 25.0 23.0 30.6

Napier 34.0 33.5 27.0 28.0 30.6

Taupo 35.0 33.5 26.0 28.0 30.6

Nelson Aero 37.0 36.0 24.5 26.0 30.9

Masterton 37.0 31.0 25.0 31.5 31.1

Gisborne Aero 34.5 33.5 28.0 29.5 31.4

Hamilton, Ruakura 37.5 36.0 26.5 28.5 32.1

Waiouru 36.5 33.0 28.0 32.0 32.4

Palmerston North 39.5 37.5 26.5 29.0 33.1

Rotorua Aero 38.5 36.0 28.0 31.0 33.4

Hokitika Aero 44.5 38.0 23.5 30.5 34.1

Kaikoura 39.5 38.5 31.5 33.0 35.6

Tauranga Aero 41.5 37.0 29.5 34.5 35.6

New Plymouth Aero 42.5 38.0 29.0 34.0 35.9

Westport Aero 45.0 37.5 27.5 35.5 36.4

Wellington, Kelburn 43.0 38.5 29.5 34.5 36.4

Opotiki 43.5 40.0 30.5 34.5 37.1

Auckland, Owairaka 43.0 39.5 33.0 37.0 38.1

Kerikeri 45.5 39.0 34.0 41.0 39.9

Kaitaia 49.0 38.5 37.0 48.0 43.1

Averages 38.4 36.1 25.7 28.5 32.2

Std Devs 4.4 2.4 4.8 7.4 4.3

Range 22.0 9.0 22.0 39.5 22.0


Composite summary table For the sake of completeness, Table 4 combines the seasonal tables, with dates in day-number format, and the latency data. There may be some factors of interest that have not been re-marked on above, and any feedback on this would be welcomed. Conclusion The values calculated in these tables seem to be in good general accordance with general un-derstanding of New Zealand climatology, but there are some cases that need more explaining, as detailed above. Addendum: Re: May 2009: May NZ average 1971-2000 is 10.80C and June average 1971-2000 is 8.58C In 2009 the May NZ average was 9.0C (our THIRD coldest May on record - May 1959 was 8.4C and May 1913 7.7C). Roughly speaking, it’s as if we dived into June-like temperatures about 25 days early.

Rupert Wood.

JULY


Sarychev Peak Erption , Kuril Islands , 12 June 2009

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=38985

Following the publication of this photograph, the atmospheric and volcanic features it cap-tured generated debate among meteorologists, geoscientists, and volcanologists who viewed it. Post-publication, scientists have proposed—and disagreed about—three possible explana-tions for the hole in the cloud deck above the volcano.

One explanation is that the hole in the clouds has nothing to do with the eruption at all. In places where islands are surrounded by oceans with cool surface temperatures, it is common for a sheet of clouds to form and drift with the low-level winds. When the cloud layer encoun-ters an island, the moist air closer to the surface is forced upward. Because the air above the marine layer is dry, the clouds evaporate, leaving a hole in the cloud deck. These openings, or wakes, in the clouds can extend far downwind of the island, sometimes wrapping into swirling eddies called von Karman vortices.

The other two possibilities that scientists have offered appeared in the original caption. One is that the shockwave from the eruption shoved up the overlying atmosphere and disturbed the cloud deck, either making a hole or widening an existing opening. The final possibility is that as the plume rises, air flows down around the sides like water flowing off the back of a surfacing dolphin. As air sinks, it tends to warm; clouds in the air evaporate.


Autumn 2009: Cold and sunny for most places; dry in the north and wet in the south. • Rainfall: Above normal in Canterbury and Otago, the lower North Island, and western Northland; below normal in central and eastern North Island and northern South Island.

• Temperature: Below average for most of the country, except for Southland and Fiordland where autumn temperatures were near average. Sunshine: Above normal for most of New Zealand; below normal in parts of Otago. Autumn overall was colder than average (by between 0.5 and 1.5°C) for most of the country with the exception of Southland and Fiordland where temperatures were near average. Below average temperatures persisted for the whole period for most areas, while parts of the West Coast, coastal Fiordland, Southland and south Otago had some respite in April with warmer than average temperatures for that month. The national average temperature of 12.5 °C was 0.7 °C below average for autumn. Autumn rainfall totals were above normal (120 – 150% of normal) in western parts of North-land, Wairarapa, Canterbury, Southern Alps and Otago. However, much of the rain in these ar-eas occurred in May, with March and April being particularly dry for most of the country, par-ticularly Hawke’s Bay, Tararua District, Marlborough, and north Canterbury. Areas that re-ceived below normal (between 50 and 80% of normal) rainfall for autumn were Waikato, cen-tral and eastern North Island (with the exception of Wairarapa), Tasman District and Marl-borough. Severe soil moisture deficits in many eastern areas of the country eased to near nor-mal levels by the end of May. March and April were dominated by the slow passage of anticyclones (“highs”) coming over New Zealand from the west. In March, these highs tended to stall over the Tasman Sea result-ing in more south to south-westerly air flows than normal over New Zealand, while in April they persisted to the east of the North Island resulting in more northerly air flows than nor-mal over the country. In May, the anticyclones tended to persist over southern Australia re-sulting in more southerly air flows than normal over New Zealand. More depressions (“lows”) than normal passed over and to the east of New Zealand in this month, which contributed to the cold and wet conditions experienced in many eastern areas during May. Major Highlights

• On 5–7 March, a storm crossed the upper North Island and moved down to the Bay of Plenty. Winds reached 150 km/h at Cape Reinga. The high winds, heavy rain and lightning strikes caused property damage and brought down trees and power lines. On 17 March, heavy rain caused surface flooding, landslips, and sewer overflows in Tauranga.

• Heavy rain along the West Coast resulted in flooding on 27 April. Homes were evacuated in Greymouth and roads became impassable. Trampers were stranded in the Mueller Hut in Aoraki Mt Cook National Park, and about 120 people were evacuated from the Milford Track by helicopter.

• There were several extreme events during May. Many locations received record low maxi-mum and minimum temperatures, particularly between the 9th and the 11th and on the 21st and 22rd. Heavy rainfall resulted in flooding in south Canterbury on the 17th, and in Otago on the 18th. High winds buffeted Wellington on the 15th, 17th, 23rd, 24th, 30th and 31st. Snow fell to low levels periodically during the month and tornadoes damaged property in Warkworth on the 11th, and in Taranaki on the 17th.

• The lowest temperature during autumn was recorded at Hanmer Forest on the 12th of May, where the minimum temperature was -7.0 °C. The highest temperature for autumn was 30.5 °C recorded at Hastings on 1 March. The highest 1-day rainfall was 341 mm recorded at Mt


Cook on 27 April (the highest autumn 1-day total for this location, since records began in 1928). Of the six main centres, Tauranga was the warmest and sunniest, Wellington the wettest, and Hamilton was the driest. Full report http://www.niwa.co.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/93354/sclimsum_09_autumn.pdf For further information, please contact: Dr Andrew Tait – Climate Scientist – NIWA National Climate Centre, Wellington Phone +64 4 386 0562 (work) or (+64 27) 327 7948 (mobile) Dr James Renwick – Principal Scientist– NIWA National Climate Centre, Wellington Phone +64 4 386 0343 (work) or (+64 21) 178 5550 (mobile) Michele Hollis, NIWA Communications Manager Phone +64 4 386-0483 or (+64 27) 255 2500 Acknowledgement of NIWA as the source is required.

MONTHLY WEATHER IN CHRISTCHURCH - AUTUMN 2009

MARCH The weather this month was drier, but cooler than normal, with higher than normal fre-quency of southerly winds. The only period of notable weather was on the 10th-11th, when a disturbed southwesterly flow turned cold southerly with showery periods to the city, includ-ing some hail during the afternoon of the 11th. Light snow fell on the ranges of North Canter-bury. APRIL This month was dominated by long periods of relatively settled weather, interspersed with a few wet spells. Temperatures varied greatly, with several summery days contrasting with some early wintry periods. Very cold southerlies affected the area on the 8th-9th, with snow flurries reported on the upper plains early on the 8th and above about 200m on Banks Penin-sula (only settling on the peaks) and the Port Hills the next day, with some hail and sleet in Christchurch. A complex low pressure system crossed over on the 29th-30th, bringing rain to the city. No significant precipitation fell on any of other days of the month. MAY Winter definitely came early this year, with May being one of the coldest and wettest on re-cord for Christchurch. Wave after wave of southerlies swept over the area, each one seeming to be colder than the one before. A low deep low to the east on the 10th resulted in snow to about 200 metres on the upper plains and Banks Peninsula, plus a little on the higher Port Hills and some hail and sleet in Christchurch. There was a break in this pattern mid month, with west or northwest flows allowing for warmer spell from the 14th-17th. However, cold southerlies returned on the 18th, with the next two days bringing rain, hail, sleet, and even some snow flurries to the city. (settling above about 300 metres on the Port Hills) Conditions didn't improve until the 26th, as cold damp southerlies persisted. The southerlies rose to near gale about the peninsula and Port Hills on the 22nd and 23rd, with some heavy falls of rain. It was dry from the 26th-30th, though temperatures remained cold. The month ended with yet another very cold southerly blast on the 31st, bringing hail, sleet and snow flurries to the city, though only light dustings settled on the Port Hills and Banks Peninsula.

NOTABLE WEATHER IN NZ - AUTUMN 2009

March and April were unsettled at times, but there were also significant settled spells. May was a different story altogether - frequent low pressure systems and southerly outbreaks re-sulted in it the coldest, snowiest, and in many places, the wettest in recent history.


MARCH 3rd - A period of thunderstorms in Waikato in afternoon. 4th - Overnight 1C minimum in Lumsden and 3C at Dunedin Airport. (but rising to 29C

maximum there in afternoon) 5th - Heavy rain and northeasterly gales lash the north of the North Island. 147mm re-

corded in Te Puke, its second highest one day total for March. Damage caused by wind and rain, including about 13,000 homes lost power in Auckland region. Gusts up to 163 km/hr recorded at Cape Reinga, and 93 km/hr across Waitemata Harbour. Unusually warm in the far south due to fohn northeasterly, e.g. 27C maximum at Tiwai Point; 25C at Puysegur Point.

6th - Warm 30C maximum in Hanmer. Very warm in Northland, e.g. 27C maximum in Kai-kohe (its warmest March maximum since records began in 1973), and 28C maximum in Whangarei.

7th - Ohakune records its warmest ever march night, after an overnight minimum of 17C. Wanganui records a warm 18C minimum at same time. Thunderstorms in western Bay of Plenty result in lightning strikes cutting power to about 74,000 households.

8th - Afternoon thunderstorms in Fiordland. 10th - Cold southerly change sweeps over South Island, with snow on hills in south. 11th - Unseasonably cold south to southwest flow covers NZ by end of day. Snow showers to

unusually low levels on hills in parts of Otago and Southland, including higher Dunedin hill suburbs. Only 8C maximum in Queenstown; 12C at Castlepoint. Snow on North Can-terbury/Kaikoura and (by evening) North Island ranges as well. Temperature drops to a wintry 5C at Takapau (inland Hawkes Bay) at 6pm.

12th - Chilly night minimums in areas sheltered from a continuing southwesterly flow, eg 0C at Takapau and Dannevirke, and 4C in Wairoa. Brief period of westerly gales in Hawkes Bay in afternoon; gust of 163 km/hr recorded on Takapau Plains.

17th - Heavy rain in western Bay of Plenty causes disruptive flooding and slips in Tauranga. A major triathlon race had to be cancelled.

19th - Band of heavy showers sweeps across northern North Island in morning. 22nd - Cold southerly flow chills east coast of South Island, with only 11C maximums in

Dunedin and Christchurch, and 10C at Le Bons Bay. Morning frosts in many inland ar-eas of South Island, e.g. -3C in Hakataramea Valley and -1C in Queenstown. (its coldest March temperature on record)

23rd - Cold southerly flow continues in central and eastern areas, with low maximums of 10C in Ohakune, and 13C in Hawera and Wellington.

24th - Another chilly start to the day in many places, e.g. only 3C minimum in Christchurch. 25th - Light morning frosts in Hawkes Bay and central North Island, but a warm 29C maxi-

mum in Culverden. 27th - Heavy rain in Fiordland and South Westland, e.g. 114mm at Milford Sound. 29th - 28C maximums in Ashburton and Culverden. Some fog in Waikato and central North

Island. Northwesterly gales in the far south. 30th - 1C minimum in Waiouru. 31st - Only 13C maximum in Ashburton, thanks to a cool southerly.

APRIL

2nd - Anticyclonic conditions with clear skies result in a frosty start to the day in the cen-tral North Island. -3C in Turangi and -2C in Taumaranui are equal to the coldest April minimums for both these stations.

4th - Warm 27C maximum in Culverden. 5th - Overnight 16C minimum in Dunedin. (warmest ever for April) 6th - Heavy rain in Fiordland and Westland. 7th - Heavy rain and thunderstorms on South Island West Coast. 430mm recorded at Cropp

on 5th and 6th. Warmest April night on record for Cheviot, with a 17C minimum under


a northwesterly flow. However, becoming colder in the south later, with snow on the mountains.

8th - Cold southerlies over South Island with snow on hills and high country; brief flurries on upper Canterbury plains overnight. 20cm snow recorded at Mt Hutt; 10cm on Coro-net peak and the Remarkables. Only 7C maximum in Dunedin; 8C in Queenstown and Reefton.

9th - Thunderstorms and hail in many parts of North Island; waterspout seen offshore from Opunaki. Snow showers on central high country, with flurries as low as Waiouru. Maxi-mums of only 11C in Hawera, 13C in Hamilton, and 14C in Paeroa. Early morning snow showers reported to as low as 200m about Banks Peninsula and Port Hills, and brief hail and sleet in parts of Christchurch. Icy -5C minimum at Tekapo.

10th - Cold morning in many places in wake of previous day's cold southerly. Record 0C minimum in Kemeu; 0C also in Hamilton, and 3C in Warkworth.

11th - Overnight -4C minimum in Waiouru. 12th - 1C minimum in Masterton. 14th - Warm 25C maximum in Kawerau. 15th - Puysegur Point reaches an unseasonably warm 20C. 16th - Warm 28C maximum in Alexandra and 27C in Cromwell. 17th - A period of heavy rain in Fiordland and South Westland. 453mm recorded at Cropp.

Warm northerly flow pushes maximum to 28C in Hororata. 20th - Cold southerly flow in east of South Island brings light snow to the Canterbury foot-

hills. 20th/21st - Some heavy rain in Gisborne and northern Hawkes Bay (e.g. 130mm at Te

Puia), but not enough to ease drought conditions there. Heavy falls also on Coromandel Peninsula, e.g. 117mm in Golden Valley; 87mm in Whitianga.

21st - Frosty start to the day in southern South Island, e.g. -5C minimum in Middlemarch, and -6C minimum in Ranfurly. Dunedin records an April record minimum of -4C, as does Balclutha with -3C.

22nd - Cold overnight minimums in many southern and central places, eg -2C in Christ-church, Cheviot, and Ohakune; 0C in Paraparaumu.

23rd - -3C minimum in Raetihi; -2C in Middlemarch. 24th - -3C minimum in Ranfurly. 25th - Heavy rain in Northland, e.g. 72mm in Kerikeri and 115mm in Kaitaia. (the latter's

highest ever one-day April total) An unusually warm 22C maximum at Milford Sound, under a northeasterly flow.

26th - Heavy rain about and west of the Southern Alps, e.g. 170mm at Milford Sound. Warm northwesterlies result in 27C maximums in Alexandra, Dunedin, Timaru, and Kaikoura. Nugget Point records 25C, its highest recorded April maximum.

27th - Heavy rain in some northern and western areas of both islands, and Wellington. Flooding causes damage in Greymouth, with several houses having to be evacuated. Haast Pass and Punakaiki highways also closed by flooding. Trampers stranded in Mt Cook National park and on Milford Track. Cropp records 584mm in 48 hours to noon. 330mm recorded at North Egmont to 1pm. 341mm recorded at Mt Cook is the station's highest April one-day total. Takapau records its warmest ever recorded April maxi-mum, with 26C, while Castlepoint records 24C. Overnight minimum of 19C is a April re-cord for Darfield.

28th - Heavy rain continuing on Mt Taranaki. Warm 26C maximum in Napier. 30th - Only 9C maximums in Alexandra, Timaru, and Ashburton, under a chilly southerly

flow. Arthurs Pass records only 5C, while Greymouth only reaches 10C. (its lowest April maximum ever recorded) Fresh snow on South Island mountains.

MAY

2nd - Frosty dawn in the south, e.g. -6C minimum in Middlemarch; -4C in Lumsden. Chilly


12C maximums in Auckland and Whitianga, under cloud and rain. 3rd - -5C minimum in Middlemarch; -3C in Alexandra. 4th - Continuing frosty in many parts of South Island, e.g. -6C minimum in Middlemarch; -3C

at Christchurch Airport. 5th - Cold trough moving onto South Island, with snow on southern high country, including

Milford Road. 6th - Cold southerlies spreading onto North Island, but easing over South Island. Snow on

mountains and ski-fields. 7th-26th May - A prolonged period of stormy weather. (see details below) 26th/27th - Chilly 4C maximums in Alexandra. 28th - Cloud cover suppresses maximums in parts of South Island, e.g. only 4C maximum in

Timaru, and 3C in Alexandra. 29th - Areas of fog about central NZ. Only 5C maximum in Murchison. 30 May to 1 June - Very cold southerly outbreak. (see details below)

MAJOR EVENTS Stormy Spell - May 7th-26th The weather from the 7th-24th May was very unsettled with frequent bouts of stormy and of-ten very cold weather in many parts of the country. The rain, wind and snow caused disrup-tion to many areas. This period can be divided into three main parts: 1. Complex low pressure system 7th-13th 2. Strong west to northwest flow 14th-17th 3. Prolonged very cold southerly outbreak 18th-24th 1. Complex low pressure system 7th-13th A trough and cold front moved onto the South Island late on the 7th, preceded by a westerly flow, and followed by colder southwesterlies. As the system crossed the rest of NZ the next day, a complex low pressure system developed over the North Island and east of the South Is-land with cold southerlies in its wake, bringing snow to the South Island high country. On the 9th, the low remained to the east, with a decreasing south to southwest flow over the North Island. Meanwhile, following a weak ridge, another trough moved onto the South Island, with rain spreading to many areas during the day. Cold air resulted in snow falling to low lev-els in South Canterbury in the evening. The next day, this trough (now moving onto the North Island) and the earlier low pressure system combined to form an even bigger system. Very cold southerlies over the South Island brought snow to about 200-300 metres in many eastern areas, with Le Bons bay on Banks Peninsula recorded its lowest ever recorded May maximum of 5C. In the North Island, thunder and hail affected many areas (especially in the west), while snow fell on the central high coun-try by evening. During the 11th and 12th, this low pressure system remained slow moving over the country, with unsettled weather continuing in many areas (though the central and northern South Is-land was mostly fair) A secondary low crossed the North Island during the 11th, with thunder and hail in many areas. The worst of these storms lashed the Bay of Plenty, with waterspouts visible offshore from Papamoa, while very heavy hail left a snow-like blanket in Mt Mangonui, causing damage but also some very rare opportunities for snow boarding and skiing on the


beach. Snow showers continued on the central mountains and high country - not enough to close any roads, but enough on Mt Taranaki (50cm) to open parts of its ski-field for one of the earliest openings on record. On the 13th, the system moved away to the southeast of the South Island, leaving a westerly flow over most of NZ by the end of the day. Mean sea-level analyses for midday NZST 7th May to midday NZST 13th May in 12 hour steps are shown here.


2. Strong west to northwest flow 14th-17th This period was considerably warmer over the country, but unsettled weather affected west-ern areas, with heavy falls about and west of the Southern Alps. This resulted in flooding of major rivers originating from the Alps, with flooding causing problems in the Clutha Valley and South Canterbury (including closures of State Highway One and the railway line where it crosses the Rangitata River) Mt Cook recorded 321mm on the 16th (highest ever recorded one day total in May), and Arthurs Pass received 214mm on the same day. Heavy rain also fell in Southland on the 14th, with flooding and disruption to roads. In the east northwesterly gales lashed the Cook Strait area on the 15th (power cut to Karori and Makara), and areas from inland Canterbury to Wairarapa on the 17th, with more damage. A small tornado caused some damage in Opunaki on the 17th. However, temperatures rose to be considerably above normal during this period, with Kaikoura reaching 23C on the 16th (and 22C the next day) and many other eastern places and northern North Island recording 20-22C maximums the same day. Mean sea-level analyses for midday NZST 14th May to midday NZST 17th May in 12 hour steps are shown here.


3. Prolonged very cold southerly outbreak 18th-26th The warm spell ended on the 18th, as a trough and cold front crossed the country, followed by colder southwesterlies over the South Island with some snow on the high country. More fronts moved onto NZ that night, and a low moved to the east of the South Island the next day, with an even colder southerly flow developing over the island. Snow lowered to about 300m in Central Otago, with Queenstown dropping to 2C by 3pm, after a maximum of only 6C. On the 20th, the low moved only slowly away to the east, allowing very cold air from near Ant-arctica to flow up over the South Island, bringing snow showers to low levels in eastern areas, with flurries even in some Christchurch suburbs. (the city only reached a 5C maximum) This southerly spread onto the North Island during the day, with snow levels lowering in central areas, including Taranaki. (as low as Stratford) Further north, hail affected many areas, and waterspouts were again reported offshore from the western Bay of Plenty. in In Rotorua, heavy hail in the early evening was followed by snow on the surrounding hills, leaving a spec-tacular white blanket visible the next morning. The flow tended southwesterly over NZ during the 21st, with conditions easing over the coun-try for a while. However, low pressure persisted to the east and, with the help of further fron-tal disturbances, deepened during the 22nd. This allowed southerlies to strengthen again over southern and central areas, with cold, wet weather in the east and south and snow on the high country. A trough brought thunder and hail to some northern North Island areas, espe-cially the Waikato, where it was also unusually cold. (Hamilton recorded its lowest ever May maximum of 7C, and was on 5C at 3pm) Instead of moving away, low pressure remained near the Chatham Islands on the 23rd. This, combined with an intense high in the southern Tasman Sea, enabled the southerly flow to strengthen even further with gales lashing many exposed eastern coastal areas; severe about


Cook Strait, resulting in disruptions in and around Wellington and cancellations of Inter-islander ferries. Rain was heavy in some eastern areas from Canterbury to Wairarapa. Mean-while, heavy snow on the central North Island high country closed the Desert Road, and made adjacent highways hazardous. On the 24th, the low moved further away, and the high pushed into the area immediately south of the South Island, where it remained slow moving until the 26th. This resulted in the flow tending southeasterly over NZ, with heavy rain spreading north to affect Hawkes bay and Gisborne (welcome after a long dry spell, but temperatures were now too cold for grass growth), but easing further south with freezing levels rising so snow was now confined to al-pine areas. South Taranaki also experienced a brief spell of heavy rain, thanks a local conver-gence zone, and a frontal system brought some hail to areas just north of Auckland. During the 26th, the southern anticyclone extended onto the South Island and the southeast-erly flow eased over the North Island, along with the rain in the northeast. The frontal system (linked to another low pressure system well to the north) in the north delivered a period of heavy rain in Northland. While eastern areas were plagued by a prolonged period of cold, wet weather during this pe-riod, the West Coast of the South Island enjoyed fine weather from the 22nd. While there were southeasterly gales in some valleys on the 22nd and 23rd, daytime temperatures soon be-came significantly warmer than normal, with maximums of 19C at Milford Sound (23rd) and Westport (25th) and 18C in Greymouth. (25th) Mean sea-level analyses for midday NZST 18th May to midday NZST 26th May in 12 hour steps are shown here.


30 May to 1 June - Very cold southerly outbreak A much colder than normal May ended with a southerly blast that was even colder than the ones before, though shorter lived and with generally lighter snowfalls. A shallow low pressure system moved onto the North Island during the 30th, with rain spreading to many areas. Meanwhile, a weak south to southwest flow over the South Island strengthened in the far south later in the day, with snow showers to low levels at night. During the 31st, the low system moved away to the east, allowing a strong, disturbed, and very cold southerly flow to spread over the whole country by later in the day. Snow showers again fell to very low levels in the east of the South Island, even as far north as Blenheim and Picton. Falls were mostly light, though up to 10cm fell in some inland parts of Mid and North Canterbury. Hanmer recorded an icy 2C maximum, while Arthurs Pass barely managed 0C. In the lower North Island, snow fell to levels which would be unusual in mid winter, including


flurries in downtown Wellington (first time since 1995), Napier, Hastings, Wairoa, and Palm-erston North. Maximum temperatures were in single figures, with several places recording their lowest May maximums on record (including 1C in Waiouru and 5C in Dannevirke). Ar-eas north of the Central Plateau were sheltered from most of the precipitation, though tramp-ers reported (non-settling) snow flurries on Mt Te Aroha. The snowfalls were, however mostly light, with roads generally staying open. The exception was the high country inland from Gisborne, where snow up to 20cm blanketed the Matawai area and closed the Waioeka Gorge highway overnight 31st/1st June. The Desert Road was closed by ice for a time on the 1st. During the 1st June, the southerly flow gradually eased over the country. But it remained cold - a chilly start to the winter proper, after a May which already had much wintry weather. Mean sea-level analyses for midday NZST 30th May to midday NZST 1st June in 12 hour steps are shown here.


INTERNET/NEWSPAPER WEATHER CLIPS

Blessing for launch of weather radar project http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/Default.aspx?s=3&s1=2&id=10686 Gisborne Herald 4 April 2009 Construction of MetService's new Mahia weather radar was launched with a blessing cere-mony conducted by the local iwi Rongomaiwahine today. The new radar will have a 300 kilometre range covering the Gisborne and Hawke's Bay re-gions, and across the Urewera into central North Island - allowing better forecasting of torren-tial rain events in those areas. The Mahia radar is the second of five new radars being funded from MetService's contact with the Ministry of Transport to help provide data to support the issuing of weather warnings for severe weather and severe thunderstorms. Resource consent for the project was received from Wairoa District Council this week. "It will provide a valuable extension to our network", says MetService national weather ser-vices manager Rod Stainer. "The reaction from local Maori and landowners has been very positive, and we are delighted to have the project launched with a ceremony in keeping with local traditions" said MetSer-vice project director Tony Quayle. Further radars will be installed in the Bay of Plenty, on the West Coast of the South Island, and in Northland over the next three years. (abridged)

Weather looking good for Easter holiday fun Thursday Apr 09, 2009 By James Ihaka New Zealand Herald

Olivia Judd (left) and Shana Martin from the US practise log rolling skills for Auckland's Royal Easter Show. Photo / Paul Estcourt After a cold start for many on Good Friday, the long Easter weekend promises mainly fine and settled weather. MetSer-vice forecaster Cameron Coutts said frosts were expected tomorrow morning from Waikato southwards. "It will probably be one of the coldest mornings yet, but temperatures will warm probably into the late teens." Similar conditions were expected on Saturday morning, but

the rest of the weekend should bring fine weather and normal temperatures. "It will be good for the people travelling to their holiday haunts, in the North Island anyway," said Mr Coutts. Parts of the Bay of Plenty, Gisborne and Hawkes Bay are the best bets for an April tan, with northwesterly winds boosting temperatures there to highs of about 22C on Saturday and Sun-day. Weatherwatch head analyst Philip Duncan said the weekend was not likely to produce any ex-treme weather. Those travelling north to holiday spots could expect a sunny start tomorrow. Fine weather was expected over the weekend with temperatures around 19C.

Warning: Make the most of sun this weekend Saturday Apr 18, 2009 By Alanah May Eriksen NZHerald A couple pose for wedding photos at Mission Bay. The dark clouds do not match up with the fine weather forecast for the weekend but are a pointer to what is in store next week. Photo / Paul Estcourt Make the most of the fine weather this weekend - forecasters predict storms on the horizon. The MetService says the so-called "Indian summer" - with some April mornings as warm as a typical January day - was probably a popular reaction to the cold snap before Easter.


"It got cold there for a while," said forecaster Marylin Avery. "It feels like a bit of a reprieve with this nice weather coming back.” "April weather is very changeable, very varied. You don't know what's going to happen next. With school holidays at the moment, I guess you'd better make the most of it." Philip Duncan of the Weather Watch Centre said a low formed yesterday and would deepen quickly during the weekend. It might warrant heavy rain warnings, most likely in Northland and on the Coromandel Peninsula and bring gale force winds

across the Hauraki Gulf and Eastern Waikato. "Farms, gardens and water tanks are drying out across the country," Mr Duncan said. "We went from a wet February to a very dry March and first two weeks of April.

Drought plan as rain arrives http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/hawkes-bay/2348468/

By BERNARD CARPINTER - The Dominion Post 21 April 2009 And Gisborne Herald GOOD WEATHER FOR DUCKS: Consistent rain has started to fall in parched areas of Gisborne, with a farmer saying it is perfect to soak into the ground. Although more rain is pre-dicted till Friday, Agriculture Minister David Carter says it will not be strong enough to break the drought. The Government has announced it will give drought assis-tance to farmers in Gisborne and Wairoa the same day a heavy rain warning was issued for the parched region. Agriculture Minister David Carter revealed the aid package yesterday, after meeting the local drought committee in Gis-borne. The package will include tax assistance measures, cash for farm management advice and funding for rural support trusts. A spokeswoman for Mr Carter said it was hard to put a figure

on the package as it depended on how many farmers asked for help. At present, 75 farms were severely affected but conditions on more were deteriorating as the drought continued. Apart from January, Gisborne's rainfall has been well below average each month since July last year. Hawke's Bay farms have also been hit by drought. However, yesterday MetService issued a severe weather warning for the area, with up to 90 millimetres of rain expected to fall between Coromandel and Wairoa during 24 hours. Rain began falling about mid-afternoon yesterday and police reported several crashes on State Highway 29, through the Kaimai Range in western Bay of Plenty. They urged drivers to be cau-tious as wet weather made roads slippery. Amanda Cave, whose family farms in hills 30 kilometres west of Gisborne, said the dry sum-mer and autumn had left their property parched. But yesterday's consistent rain was perfect to soak into the ground. "It's very relaxing." More rain is forecast for Gisborne through to Friday, but Mr Carter said it would not be enough to alleviate the effects of the drought. "East Coast farmers are bearing the brunt of three years of extreme weather. The Government knows this is putting severe pressure on rural communities and that they need help to get through this." Federated Farmers spokesman Frank Brenmuhl welcomed the Government's rapid response, but said that other regions were also at risk, including inland parts of Wairarapa and Hawke's Bay. (abridged)


It's autumn and it's cool http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/central-north-island/2359547/Its-autumn-and-its-cool 24/04/2009 The Dominion Post ROBERT KITCHIN/The Dominion Post AUTUMN DAYS: Annabel Twomey playing in the leaves at Masterton's Queen Elizabeth Park in Masterton, the coldest place in New Zealand this week, with a seven-degree frost. MetService spokesman Bob McDavitt said the frosts were over, and it would be warmer by the weekend. Heavy rain is forecast for Northland and the West Coast but Wellington should be overcast and about 15 degrees celsius on Anzac Day.

Longing for the lazy, hazy days of summer http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/wellington/2354619/Longing-for-the-lazy-hazy-days-of-summer 23/04/2009 By REBECCA THOMSON - The Wellingtonian / Dominion Post

HEATING UP: NIWA figures show Wellington's summers have been getting warmer, with par-ticularly hot summers during the 1980s. Did summers seem longer and hotter 20 years ago? One of our readers thinks so. In a letter to the editor, Pamela Stainton recalled hot, dry sum-mers during the 1970s and 80s. "Am I imagining things or was this summer colder than usual?" she asked. It turns out that our weather-conscious reader might be at least partially right. The 1980s was an especially hot decade. National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research figures show that this summer, temperatures were, in fact, between 0.5 and 1.5 degrees higher than aver-age. Summers have actually been getting warmer since the 1960s, but there was a spike in temperatures during the 1980s. The summer period is December 1 to March 1. During the 1960s, the average temperature during this period was 16.8 degrees Celsius. This decade summer temperatures have aver-aged 17.3C. During the 1980s, summer temperature averaged 17.7C.


Climate scientist Dr Andrew Tait attributed the hot 1980s to fewer anti-cyclones (highs) to the west of the South Island. "This weather pattern results in south-westerly to southerly flow over New Zealand, which tends to be cooler," he said. "In addition, anti-cyclones generally have low moisture content, and that might also explain the higher than average relative hu-midity observed in Wellington in this decade." Summertime humidity has risen since the 1960s, when the average was 73.8 per cent. During the 1980s, humidity averaged 78 per cent and this decade humidity was 75 per cent during summer (abridged).

Whakatane's sunshine claim discredited http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/whakatanes-sunshine-claim-discredited-2672604 24 April 2009, NZPA / TVNZ

Whakatane has lost its fight with the government boffins to be crowned New Zealand's sunshine capi-tal. The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Re-search (Niwa) issued test findings on Thursday which, it claims, show the sunshine recorder at Wha-katane's oxidation ponds is making faulty measure-ments. Whakatane's recorder logged up 2703 sunshine hours in 2008, well ahead of second-placed Blen-heim with 2505 hours. But Niwa said that was too good to be true. Setting up its own recorder along-side Whakatane's, Niwa ran tests over 30 days, from

March 11 to April 9 inclusive, and Thursday's report says the Whakatane instrument notched up an average of 12.1 minutes a day more sunshine than Niwa's. Over the 366 days of 2008, that still only comes to an extra 73 hours, leaving Whakatane out-shining Blenheim, but Niwa says the faulty readings are enough to invalidate the Eastern Bay result. Mary Hermanson, marketing manager of Eastern Bay economic development agency Toi-EDA, still reckoned Whakatane was New Zealand's sunniest spot but said -whatever the result - the publicity the issue had generated had been a huge plus for the region. Whakatane's recorder has now been adjusted to measure the golden rays in the same way as Niwa's, and she was happy to wait until the end of 2009 for the sunshine crown to come to "its rightful place". (abridged)

Face of NIWA sacked for talking to media

http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/face-niwa-sacked-being-too-public-2673255 Friday April 24, 200 TVNZ

ONE News sJim Salinger One of New Zealand's top climate scientists has just been fired from his job at the National Institute of Water & Atmospheric research (NIWA). Dr Jim Salinger has been the public face of the or-ganisation for three decades, but says it was his un-authorised talking to the media that's got him sacked. Salinger, whose work as a science communicator has earned him accolades and even contributed to a No-bel Peace Prize, says he is now planning to sue his


former employer for unjustified dismissal because according to him, he cannot understand why he was sacked. "It's not as though I'm doing bad science, it's not as though I'm not performing and so I'm really astounded". What got Salinger fired is something that in the past brought him high praise - talking to the media. Salinger says he always believed that his media work actually brought NIWA into repute. And indeed, NIWA is not claiming any concern about what their principal scientist actually said to the media. It's that he defied new policy - speaking publicly without gaining prior ap-proval. One instance of what NIWA calls "serious misconduct" was when he participated in a ONE News story about the shrinking of New Zealand's glaciers. Another case where he was quoted was described as insubordination. But Salinger says the reasons given for his dismissal are not strong enough to get him fired. "As scientists we're all a bit eccentric and we all might slightly break protocol, but it's not go-ing to destroy NIWA". And Dr John Lancashire from the NZ Institute of Agricultural & Horticultural Science agrees with Salinger's views. "I'm not aware of any other country sacking a Nobel award winner or for that matter a com-panion of the Royal Society of NZ, so that's a bit strange I'd have to say". NIWA says it will not talk about an employment issue publicly, but says it had given him warn-ings before his dismissal. Late Thursday, Dr Salinger arrived home from NIWA for the last time. He may head the World Commission for Agricultural Meteorology, but now has no job to go to in his own country. His work now is to make room for over 30 years of scientific papers - the quality of which is not in question. And indeed, NIWA is not claiming any concern about what their principal scientist actually said to the media. It's that he defied new policy - speaking publicly without gaining prior ap-proval. One instance of what NIWA calls "serious misconduct" was when he participated in a ONE News story about the shrinking of New Zealand's glaciers. View Jeanette Fitzsimmons question in the house at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-Bj9khD97s Or listen to a Radio NZ interview http://admin.radionz.co.nz/__data/assets/audio_item/0010/1926694/ckpt-20090424-1828-Jim_Salinger_sacked_from_NIWA-m048.asx

Slip blocks road in stormy weekend http://www.bayofplentytimes.co.nz/localnews/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3797418&thesection=localnews&thesubsection=&thesecondsubsection= 27.04.2009 by Vicki Waterhouse and Lauren Owens Bay of Plenty Times

PICTURE CLAIRE DE BARR: Oropi Gorge Rd disap-peared beneath a torrent of dirt and scrub this morn-ing. A massive slip on a rural road blocked traffic this morning, apparently forcing vehicles, including a school bus, to reverse back up the treacherous incline. Firefighters responding to a call to remove a log block-ing a road instead found the slip on Oropi Gorge Rd, that occurred after a weekend of heavy rain.


The MetService said Tauranga had 18mm of rain in the last 24 hours. The heaviest period was last night between 4pm and 6pm when 12mm fell.

Greymouth hit by 'weather bomb' http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2370278/Greymouth-hit-by-weather-bomb 28 April 2009 Greymouth Times A sudden deluge in Greymouth has badly damaged a number of houses and it will be several weeks before the residents are allowed to return. Greymouth appeared to suffer the worst from a band of heavy rain that moved up the country last night - prompting rain warnings from the MetService and cautions on road conditions. Eleven people were evacuated in Greymouth, including two from council pensioner flats, when more than 10cm of rain fell in a few hours. Grey District Mayor Tony Kokshoorn told NZPA that a "massive weather bomb and flash flood" saw one house knee-deep in water and the volume of water going down the road made it look like a little river. The MetService said the heaviest rain in Westland had passed but there was a heavy rain warning for areas from Canterbury north to Taranaki. That has prompted a warning for driv-ers to drive to conditions ahead of heavy rain in Wellington region. (abridged)- NZPA Haast highway closed by flooding Otago Daily Times Tue 28 April 2009

Photo copyright to Matthew Haggart. Flood-prone Pipson Creek near Makarora burst its banks and closed State Highway 6 yesterday afternoon, as torrential rain fell across the Main Divide. Forecast heavy rain for the West Coast and Main Divide arrived as predicted on Sunday night and brought down slips further along SH6 to Haast, and flooded the coastal highway, further north. The remote mountain valley township of Pipson Creek recorded 84mm of rain in the 24 hours to 4pm, yesterday, according to the Otago Regional Council's water information website - only 6mm away from activating a first landslip monitoring warning. Makarora Civil Defence co-ordinator David Howe said the creek had overflowed its banks about 11.30am. The main link to the West Coast

was closed shortly after 1pm, he said. Heavy rain also fell around Wanaka and Hawea, with about 26mm recorded in the 24 hours to 4pm yesterday. (abridged)


Winter's here with a bang By MATT CALMAN - The Dominion Post 07/05/2009 http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/2390174/Winters-here-with-a-bang

GERARD SMITH DAY BREAKS: Lightning over the Orongorongos, snapped at 6.15 Wednesday morning from Fortification Rd, above Wellington's Scorching Bay. Firefighters dealt with minor flooding in Brooklyn and Island Bay yesterday morning and thunder set off a fire alarm in Newtown. Sergeant Mark Oliver, from police central communi-cations, said patrol cars struggled to reach a car accident in Berhampore about 5.30am be-cause of hail on the road. "It was like marbles down Adelaide Rd." MetService forecaster Allister Gorman said lightning storms had arrived in the capital early this morning after tracking northwards up the South Island overnight. "In the last 24 hours there have been around 800 lightning flashes, but that's been pretty spread out around the country. Everyone has been getting a little dose of something." -with CLIO FRANCIS, Stuff.co.nz, with The Press and NZPA (abridged)

'Hi, coastguard? I seem to have run dry'

By MARC GREENHILL - The Press 07/05/2009 http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2390410/Hi-coastguard-I-seem-to-have-run-dry DAVID HALLETT/The Press RUN AGROUND: Greg Broom calls for help after his yacht lost its mooring in Moncks Bay and was washed up on South Shore Spit yesterday. A Christchurch man watched a whirlpool rip his yacht from its Moncks Bay mooring early yesterday. He was forced to watch from the shore because it was too dan-gerous to approach. "It was almost motoring up on to the mooring like it was under power that's how fast it was going against the tide," Broom said. "It would fire straight ahead and kick around to 90 degrees like some-body was flicking it around in their hand." (abridged)


Tour buses stranded by weather By John Lewis on Mon, 11 May 2009 Otago Daily Times More than 80 people were trapped for several hours in three tour buses on the Lindis Pass last night after a wintry blast left the buses stranded on slippery, snowy roads. Sergeant Wayne Brew, of Oamaru, said the buses were heading from Omarama towards Wanaka when the road became impassable about 7pm. Police helped get two of the buses turned around and headed back down State Highway 8 to Omarama, but the third was still trapped late last night. Snow closed the highway from Omarama over the pass to Tarras and closer to Dunedin, (Abridged)

More icy weather tipped for south The Southland Times 11/05/2009 BARRY HARCOURT/The Southland Times White tract: A tractor covered by snow that fell on the road between Nightcaps and Ohai yesterday. Snow fell to the foothills in Southland, West Otago and Queenstown yesterday, as temperatures rapidly plum-meted. The snow is good news for skifields in the South-ern Lakes district with The Remarkables reporting a 25cm snow base and Coronet 30cm, while Treble Cone has 20cm mid-mountain, and Cardrona 30cm. (abridged)

Wild weather in Tauranga

By MICHAEL FOX - Stuff.co.nz 11/05/2009 http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2401406/Wild-weather-in-Tauranga

DONNA FORLONG Tauranga Hail Police have been evacuating the Bayfair Shopping Centre in Tauranga as the severe weather hits. They said the centre was flooding. A spokesman at the Tauranga Fire Station said there had been "extensive damage" to the mall. Flooding had hit roads in the area, with Senior Sergeant Deirdre Lack of Mt Maunganui Police saying the hail had blocked drains and prevented the heavy rain from draining away. Tauranga City Council spokesman Marcel Currin said that most of the surface flooding was at Mount Maunganui and Papamoa. Metservice spokeswoman Kathleen Kozyniak said there had also been thunderstorms and lightning in the Western Bay of Plenty Area. (abridged) - with MICHAEL FIELD


BURRIED in hail: corner of Concord Ave and Oceanbeach Rd, Papamoa TWISTER : A tornado ripped through Warkworth

Storm lashes Bay of Plenty Monday May 11, 2009 TVNZ ONE News/NZPA http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/cold-snow-tipped-after-twisters-hail-2726755 A storm has hit the Western Bay of Plenty with heavy rain, waterspouts and hail stones the size of a 20 cent coin hitting the area. Just before midday, a violent thunderstorm brought chaos to Papamoa and Mount Maunganui, with hail coating the areas. There have also been thunderstorms and hail in Tauranga, Whakatane and Opotiki on Mon-day afternoon. Up to ten centimetres of hail fell in places, blocking drains and flooding several streets and houses. Worst affected were Oceanbeach Road, Concord Avenue and part of State Highway Two. The wild weather also churned up massive offshore twisters and the Bayfair Shopping Centre in Mt Maunganui evacuated 2000 people after a manhole collapsed sending floodwater into the building. Papamoa residents say they saw several large waterspouts offshore between Motiti Island and Town Point and the winds that accompanied them were horrendous. Mt Maunganui resi-dent Wattie Newtown said he watched five waterspouts, one which lasted five to 10 minutes.

Snow's up for winter surfers

By KELLY BURNS - The Dominion Post 12/05/200 http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2402566/Snows-up-for-winter-surfers Sunday News Beaches were turned into a winter wonderland as hailstorms hammered the North Island, prompting snowboarders to hit the sand dunes. Winter came early in dramatic fashion yesterday as a mini-tornado, hail, rain and snow sent chills across the country. In the Bay of Plenty, the violent storms brought traffic to a standstill, sparked surface flooding and caused thousands of lightning strikes.


MAKING THE MOST OF IT: A snowboarder makes the most of a thick blanket of hail to get a tow along Papamoa Beach. More than 2000 people were evacuated from Mt Maunganui's Bayfair shopping mall after hail collapsed part of its roof and heavy rain caused flooding. Papamoa Primary School is closed today after rain and hail 15 centimetres deep in places blocked drains and flooded class-rooms. Ellen Irvine said marble-sized hailstones hammered the roof of her Papamoa home about midday with such force she thought the windows would break. Her garden became a "winter wonderland" and hail blanketed Papamoa beach, but then the sun shone and snowboarders made the most of the conditions on the sand dunes.. Whakatane police said lightning struck a tree that landed on a garage, and lightning also hit a fusebox at Paroa Road School. "We've had six inches of hail, it's a bit like a weather-bomb," Sergeant Floyd Pratt said. A mini-tornado ripped through Warkworth, north of Auckland, reaching estimated speeds of 100kmh and cutting power to the town for about 10 minutes. Residents in one house escaped unharmed after the tornado pulled the roof off their rented home, scattering the tiles in their backyard and punching holes through the ceiling. Resident Raewyn Hudson said the tornado knocked over television aerials and birdbaths, up-rooted small trees and broke branches. MetService forecaster Erick Brenstrum said up to 5000 lightning strikes may have hit the Bay of Plenty yesterday. Skiers were rejoicing at the snowfalls. Mt Ruapehu spokesman Mike Smith said there had been a dramatic change on the ski-fields in the past week, with about 60cm of snow falling at Turoa and 50cm at Whakapapa. (abridged)

Hail costs kiwifruit growers $10m By NICK CHURCHOUSE - The Dominion Post Last up-dated 05:00 21/05/2009

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/2428173/Hail-costs-kiwifruit-growers-10m

Crop damage from Bay of Plenty's recent freak hail storms are up to $10 million, well in excess of indus-try rescue funds for weather-hit orchards. Damage assessment is still under way after unseasonal hail storms hit kiwifruit country around Tauranga and Te Puke, but the loss is likely to reach almost three million trays of fruit. New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers president Peter


Ombler said evaluation visits were not complete but at last count 467 orchards were affected. More than three-quarters of those had lost less than 20 per cent of their fruit, but at least 23 had written off their entire crop. Two fierce hail storms hit localised areas last week, with the second front crossing prime or-charding land pelting ripe crops waiting to be harvested. The impact on the industry as a whole was not major, with damaged fruit only 3 per cent of volume, so international orders would be filled. But with limited insurance money available for orchardists, some would miss out, Mr Ombler said. The industry held $4 million in reserve each year to help weather affected farmers, split between gold kiwifruit and green kiwifruit growers. Mr Ombler said only 500,000 gold kiwi-fruit were hit by the hail, but the green harvest was less advanced and at least 2.4 million were damaged. The emergency fund for green kiwifruit would not cover the extent of the damage. (abridged)

Early snow disrupts travel but gives skifields hope ODT Tue, 12 May 2009 http://www.odt.co.nz/the-regions/otago/55426/early-snow-causes-some-disruption Paul Speedy, manager of the adults' snowsports school at Coronet Peak, jumps for joy in front of the base build-ing yesterday morning. Photo Supplied. MetService forecaster Vive Binkoto said a break in the weather was expected this afternoon but another low off the coast of the South Island would bring cold show-ers to sea level and snow to about 700m tonight. Coronet Peak ski area manager Hamish McCrostie said he was "thrilled" with the weekend's conditions. Up to 50cm of snow had fallen in the area in the last week.

He said 25cm had fallen at the top of the mountain over Sunday night, and 15cm at the base. (abridged)

Rivers rising as rain gauge blows its top By SAM McKNIGHT - The Southland Times 14/05/200 http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/2409448/Rivers-rising-as-rain-gauge-blows-its-top

BARRY HARCOURT/142150 SPLASHING OUT: Persistent rain in the south during the past few days has flooded Invercargill roads, making for hazardous driving. More than 60 millimetres of rain has fallen in Invercar-gill during the past four days, a significant amount in such a short period of time, according to the MetService. Consultant meteorologist Ross Marsden said the ser-vice's Invercargill Airport gauge had recorded 62.8mm of rainfall from midnight Sunday to 3pm yesterday. (abridged)


New Zealand glaciers still growing despite “global warming”

May 18, 2009 NZ Hearld http://aftermathnews.wordpress.com/2009/05/18/new-zealand-glaciers-still-growing-despite-%E2%80%9Cglobal-warming%E2%80%9D/

New Zealand weather patterns mean the Fox Glacier is still growing despite global warm-ing. Researchers at a three-day science confer-ence starting in Wellington today are looking at implications of new work on climate change. Geomorphologist Andrew Mackintosh of Vic-toria University – who was part of new re-search showing New Zealand glaciers have been heavily influenced by regional atmos-pheric conditions – has already said people should not assume warming will be uniform over the Earth. “The more we’re learning about the Southern Hemisphere we under-

stand that it has its own climate system that’s somewhat different.” The researchers also included geologist David Barrell, of GNS Science, and glaciologist Trevor Chinn, of the Alpine and Polar Processes Consultancy, and they found no real correlation be-tween data from the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers are still growing, despite global warming, apparently be-cause of weather patterns bringing more cool, wet conditions to New Zealand. Such regional climate effects may mean New Zealand will show less warming than the rest of the world over the next 100 years. Dr Barrell said the New Zealand findings point to the importance of regional shifts in wind di-rections and sea surface temperatures. (abridged)

Flooding and slips after deluge By PAUL GORMAN - The Press 18/05/2009 http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/2418478/Flooding-and-slips-after-deluge David Hallett In flood: Tim and Sandra Jorgensen, of Darfield watch the Rakaia surge through the Rakaia Gorge. Raging rivers roared across the South Island yesterday, flooding Omarama, threatening bridges and blocking the main highway south. Rain fell on already sodden high-country catchments, while melting snow turned the Rangitata, Waitaki and Rakaia rivers into torrents. The Rangitata River near State Highway 1 peaked about 2.30pm, with water bursting through its southern bank, flowing across farmland and roads, closing the highway and forcing motorists to detour inland through Geraldine. The main trunk railway line was also closed between the Rangitata River and Temuka. The old Waimakariri River bridge near Kaiapoi was

also closed for a time yesterday.


Omarama was on the brink of a Civil Defence emergency yesterday, with 31 people evacuated from the camping ground at 5.30am, along with three residents living near the river. A major slip closed the Lindis Pass, while a slip on the Mt Cook Highway caused problems. MetService severe weather forecaster Ian Miller said the weather system had brought mas-sive amounts of rain to the West Coast and the Southern Alps. The country's wettest place Cropp River inland from Hokitika had 440 millimetres of rain between midnight Friday and midnight Saturday, with another 106mm from then until 7am yesterday. More than 300mm had fallen close to Mount Cook village and parts of the Mackenzie Country had about 70mm. (abridged)

Cold blast brings snow

20/05/2009 stuff.co.nz http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2425741/Winter-bites-on-countrys-roads

An icy blast of snowfall and gales has stopped ferries from sailing across the Cook Strait this morning and closed roads around New Zealand. In Otago, State Highway 87 between Outram and Middlemarch was closed due to snow. The North Island's De-sert Road, closed due to snow this morning, reopened about 10am. The MetService had reports of snow down to 200m, though not in great amounts. However, conditions would ease over the day. (abridged)

Heavy snow forecast for central North Island

Wednesday May 20, 2009 NZ Herald

The Desert Road (pictured) was temporarily closed due to snow earlier today, while some Otago roads re-

main off-limits to motorists. Photo / Catherine

The central North Island is expected to bear the brunt of a very cold front tonight, with heavy snowfalls ex-pected from Hunterville on the southern foothills of the Central Plateau to the summit of the Desert Road.

(abridged)

Hill suburbs affected by wintry blast Thu, 21 May 2009 ODT Emma Russell organises a tow truck after her car slid off Dalziel Rd. Photo by Stephen Jaquiery. The wintry conditions that left Dunedin streets white yesterday morning are predicted to ease today. Snow and hail fell in the hill suburbs and hail coated footpaths down to sea level. Yesterday's cold


weather also brought snow to the skifields in Wanaka and Queenstown and flooding to the Waitaki Bridge Camp from high flows in the Waitaki River. Temperatures remained in single figures around the region, with the average temperature (abridged)

Cook Strait swells set to top 12m 21/05/2009 Dom Post http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2428109/Cook-Strait-swells-set-to-top-12m

MARK HOTTON WHITE OUT: Snow blankets the Crown Terrace, above Arrowtown, where about 15cm of snow fell. Twelve-metre swells in Cook Strait and snow showers are forecast as the North Island gets a taste of winter. A cold southerly blast is expected to cause delays and possible cancellations of ferry sailings till the weekend. Swells peaked at 9m in Cook Strait yesterday. The high-est swell recorded in Cook Strait was 14.2m in 2002. Bluebridge ferry spokeswoman Wendy Pannett said two morning sailings had to be cancelled yesterday be-cause of rough conditions but services resumed at 1pm. Yesterday's high winds of up to 100kmh forced Merid-ian Energy to shut its new Makara wind farm to avoid damaging equipment. Some of the 25 turbines were out of action for about an hour at the peak of high winds

early yesterday. Freezing conditions in the central North Island have stranded seven trucks in Tongariro Na-tional Park overnight. Police said the Rotorua region had experienced a large hail storm around 7pm. Roads from Nongotaha to Rotorua were covered two inches of slush and drivers should take care. Snow has also begun falling on the Desert Road. Police said it was snowing moderately in the area and contractors were on site clearing roads. Snow is also expected down to 400 metres on the Rimutaka Hill Road near Wellington tonight. "The whole country is under a very cold south west flow. It's a good taste of winter," MetSer-vice forecaster Chris Noble said.

Cold blast set to hang around Thursday May 21, 2009 ONE News/Newstalk ZB http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/cold-blast-set-hang-around-2748846 Tony Renshaw -Snow on the hills behind Roto-rua There has been chaos on roads in the Central Plateau on Thursday after a fresh dumping of snow, with many trucks left stranded. One driver tried to put his brakes on, lost control and slid off the road. (abridged)


Record May rain keeps roofers busy By Rebecca Fox on Fri, 22 May 2009 ODT

Marty Duffy, of Jobman, makes the most of the break in the weather to mend a leaky roof in Dunedin yesterday. Photo by Gerard O'Brien. Dunedin's recent steady rain will see at least one suburb of the city break a 34-year-old rainfall record for May - with 10 days of the month re-maining. Balaclava resident John Bradley has been recording rainfall figures for the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) for 34 years and his rain gauge for May so far shows 154mm, just 10mm short of the record 164mm in 1987. MetService expects another cold front to cross the South Island today, bringing a return to cold southerlies and showers. Snow showers were forecast to 400m or 500m from Southland to Marlborough. The rain, hail and snow in recent days had meant

a busy time for building maintenance contractors, who have been inundated with calls from home and business owners about leaking roofs. (abridged)

Dry . . . and getting drier Saturday, 23 May 2009 Roger Handford Gisborne Herald http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/Default.aspx?s=3&s1=2&id=11739 Farmers on the East Coast need to be aware the trend in the weather is for more dry years like the ones just experienced, says agricultural climatologist Alan Porteous. Mr Porteous, of the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Science (Niwa), says while the current drought of eight dry months out of nine is unusual, more dry years can be ex-pected in the Gisborne-East Coast area in the future. But Mr Porteous warns that the trend over the past 100 years points to a drier East Coast climate in the years ahead, with more dry springs likely. Over the past hundred years, scientists have noted the westerly weather pat-terns becoming more persistent. Since the 1970s, the north and east of the North Island have become 10 percent drier overall and 5 percent drier in the summer, with the eastern regions getting more drought conditions. “There is an underlying warming trend whereby New Zealand’s climate has warmed by about a degree over the past century,” Mr Porteous says. Mr Porteous is involved in a number of projects with farmers, particularly in Hawke’s Bay, and says most seem to have a fairly good idea of what is happening with climate. “Some are responding to the challenge and have become involved in programmes such as planting ripar-ian strips, protecting the headwaters of streams and hillside springs.” Niwa and Mr Porteous have been working with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, AgResearch, other Crown institutes and the Sustainable Farming Fund to tackle these issues. They aim to produce information that is readable and understandable, and plans that are practical and achievable on farm. “Farmers, particularly those on the drier hill country, need to do what they can to prepare for drier years — to adapt their management techniques and to protect water supplies. “This will be a huge challenge — but it also will be a huge opportu-nity, and I believe New Zealand and its agricultural community is better-placed than most to take advantage of the niche opportunities and chances for diversification that will arise.” (abridged)


It's going to get rough By BRITTON BROUN - The Dominion Post 23/05/2009 http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2434495/Its-going-to-get-rough CRAIG SIMCOX/ The Dominion Post ROCKING AND ROLLING: A ship heads out into Cook Strait from Wellington Harbour yesterday. A severe wind warning has been issued as gusts of up to 140kmh bear down on Wellington. MetService forecaster Oliver Druce said yesterday's bleak weather was only going to get worse as southerly gusts in-creased today, reaching gale-force speeds of up to 140kmh in exposed places. The low was also expected to bring heavy rain in the coastal hills of Wairarapa, southern and eastern slopes of the Tararua Range, and Wellington. Forecasters have predicted waves of up to 11 metres in Cook Strait. (abridged)

Christchurch houses evacuated 23/05/2009 stuff.co.nz http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2435755/High-winds-cause-Wellington-chaos Residents have been evacuated from two Sumner, Christchurch, homes after a slip in the area this morning. The 100cu m slip was part of a raft of weather-related damage nationwide, which included boats breaking from their moorings in Wellington, a Christchurch hotel losing its roof and power poles blocking a road near Upper Hutt. Christchurch City Council transport and greenspace manager Alan Beuzenberg said the slip was on council reserve land on The Spur and had reduced Main Road below to a single lane. "The homes which have been evacuated are directly behind the area of hillside which subsi-dised. These homes are some metres from the slip. Bluebridge and Interislander ferry sailings were cancelled as high winds and huge swells af-fected the Cook Strait. About 700 people were stranded on either side of the strait.

Wind gusts of up to 140kmh hit the Wellington region, forcing the closure of Blue Mountains Road near Upper Hutt after sev-eral power poles were damaged and blocked the road, police said. Power was briefly cut to about 1200 homes in the greater Wellington region after tree branches and de-bris across power lines knocked out electricity to homes in Ngauranga, John-sonville and Plimmerton. (abridged)

NICK BLACK DEBRIS: Flotsam washed up on Owhiro Bay Parade Wellington creates a hazard for motorists.


A chill wind blows in 'Winterless' North 25.05.2009 by André Hueber Northern Advocate http://www.northernadvocate.co.nz/localnews/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3798160&thesection=localnews&thesubsection=&thesecondsubsection= Old Jack Frost pays a visit to Pohe Island. Picture/John Stone Wrap up in woollies because we're colder than usual, but you may not need a brollie because we haven't been as wet, Metser-vice says. Forecaster Ramon Oosterkamp said it had been much chillier a lot earlier this year and the Winterless North "hasn't quite lived up to its reputation on this occasion". (abridged)

Beer box keeps an eye on the weather By LAURA RICHARDS - Rangitikei Mail 27/05/2009 http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/news/rangitikei-

mail/2444241/Beer-box-keeps-an-eye-on-the-weather An upside down beer box painted white shields a simple weather station in Turakina. "It is a bit of kiwi ingenuity," said long time weather watcher Pete Marcroft, of Edenmore Road. Mr Marcroft said his interest in weather probably started with a book on clouds that his father had. He was a teenager when the family lived at Manapouri in Fiordland. He noticed "a big change in weather" from the North Island to the South Island. Mr Marcroft said the weather station monitors wind speed and direction with an anemometer, humidity, a barometer, temperature and chill-factor and has a self-dumping rain-gauge at the top of the beer crate. That information is then streamed into a web page at www.weatherlive.co.nz. The site also includes links to other weather stations. (abridged)

LAURA RICHARDS/Rangitikei Mail/ Manawatu Standard WEATHER MAN: Peter Marcroft.

Gloomy and cold holiday weekend ahead

Wednesday May 27, 2009 By Isaac Davison NZ herald Parts of Kaikohe were knee-deep in floodwater yes-

terday. Photo / Supplied by Laurel Jerome

Queen's Birthday weather will keep most holiday-makers indoors, as forecasters predict stormy condi-tions and single-digit temperatures. The gloomy outlook comes after torrential rain hit parts of Northland yesterday with more than 100mm falling north of Whangarei, causing some flooding. Weather Watch analyst Phillip Duncan said: "Over 120mm of rain in one day is a significant amount for farming regions, compared to mountain ranges which just absorb the water. In the Northland area


the rain just runs across the fields into the rivers." While weather will clear tomorrow, the North Island will be met by a cold blast of air this weekend."The air is coming directly from the Antarctic. On Sunday Wellington's high could be only 6 or 7C, while the desert road may only reach 4C," said Mr Duncan. (abridged)

We can see clearly now the city's gone The Press Paul Gorman 28/05/2009

http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/christchurch/2450489/We-can-see-clearly-now-the-citys-gone/ ROY SINCLAIR PEAK PERFORMANCE: The view above the fog was stunning from the Christchurch gondola cableway yesterday morning. Not all anticyclones bring sunny weather, as Christchurch residents have found out over the past two days. The city had a classic case of "anticyclonic gloom" yesterday, with fog and mist giving way to low cloud by late morning. MetService spokesman Bob McDavitt said there were "10 reasons to hate a high", including anticyclonic gloom. The gloomy conditions were due to a lid of warm air only a few hundred metres above sea level keeping cold and moist air trapped near the ground. Conditions would improve only when the wind picked up or the sun managed to break through, he said. Low cloud or fog patches were likely again this morning.

Never mind the rain, here's the snow

Saturday May 30, 2009 By Wayne Thompson NZ Herald Snow is expected to close the Desert Rd at times during Queen's Birthday weekend as a polar blast strikes the country and temperatures tumble. Photo / Sarah Ivey MetService has issued severe weather warnings for 18 places. It warned of a strong, very cold southerly expected to reach southern parts of the country this afternoon, spread over Canterbury tonight, and quickly spread north tomorrow morning. It is predicting snow down to 200m as far north as the Gisborne ranges and heavy dumps on Cen-tral North Island roads. MetService severe weather fore-caster Oliver Druce said today's warning had been issued not because of the amount of snow expected but because

of the very low levels involved. The snow is likely to close many roads and wind chill is ex-pected to be severe. (abridged)

What a start

Saturday May 30, 2009 http://www.planetski.eu/news/458 Mt Hutt in New Zealand opens 2 weeks early after heavy snowfalls. Blue skies and powder were the or-der of the day. It was the first time the mountain had opened in May for more than a decade. “We have a one metre snow base which is phenomenal for this time of year. Getting the mountain open early has been a huge challenge for staff but we had a great day today making it well worth the effort,” said Ski Area Manager Dave Wilson as the lifts sprang into action.


The Society is a group of people from around New Ze aland (and over-seas) who like to share their fascination in weathe r and its antics. The Society was inaugurated at a meeting held in We llington on 11 October 1979. The objects of the Society are to en courage an inter-est in the atmosphere, weather, and climate, partic ularly as related to the New Zealand region.

What does the Society provide?

Access to a lively committee who are specially elec ted watchdogs for any contentious issue involving weather or climate.

For members in the main centres: An e-group for com munications plus organised meetings throughout the year on weather a nd climate top-ics.

A quarterly newsletter full of member’s news and vi ews plus descrip-tions of recent significant weather.

An annual professional journal Weather and Climate, providing mem-bers access to the latest peer-reviewed thinking in the profession of meteorology. It is accepted internationally as the journal that gives recognition of the value of meteorological an d climatological work done in New Zealand. It contains papers of int erest to both professional and general readers. It also includes book reviews and explanations of the unusual. Members are invited t o send in their own descriptions or photos.

An annual conference.

A web site http://metsoc.rsnz.org/

Who are the Society members?

We are a mix of professionals and non-professionals .

We come from a broad range of backgrounds, includin g:

meteorologists, weather watchers and storm chasers

Climatologists and environmentalists,

Geographers and geophysicists,

Atmospheric scientists, physicists and chemists

hydrologists and ecologists

sailors and divers

trampers and climbers

Aviators, flyers and glider pilots

agriculturists and aquaculturists

astronomers and cloud-admirers

economists and engineers

professional weather forecasters

WHAT IS THE MET S OCIETY?


Anyone with an interest in the atmosphere, weather and climate of New Zealand may join us. We welcome applications from non-professionals and from those in disciplines related to the study of the atmosphere (oceanography, hydrology, etc.). A brief description of the Society and a list of s ervices are outlined on the other side of this page. If you wish to app ly for membership, please complete the form below.

1. Name and Address (include email): 2. My interest in meteorology is: 3. I am willing to have my name and location publis hed in Society docu-ments: YES NO 4. Payment (annual): Ordinary members ............. ... $35.00* Institutional members ............... $105.00* Overseas posting surcharge .......... $15.00* Subscriptions are due on 1 August. * Rates here are for 2008/9 and may change at AGM . Our financial year is from 1 August to 31 July. 5. Signature: ________________ Date:_____________ ____________ 6. Please return this form, and a cheque (made out to Meteorological Society of N.Z.) to

The Secretary Meteorological Society of New Zealand

P.O. Box 6523, Marion Square, Wellington 6141 New Zealand

MEMBERSHIP A PPLICATION F ORM

I wish to apply for membership of the Meteorologica l So-

Meteorological Society Of New Zealand (Inc.)Glenn has been involved with numerous climate and health...

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