New Zealand Summer Weather

[J07]

In true La Nina fashion it's been pretty warm and humid everywhere. Dewpoints of over 20C have been fairly common up north.

Today the conditions over places north of the Central Plateau were essentially tropical, and little different to many observations through the tropical Pacific. Dewpoints reached 23C in isolated spots, and were around 21C for most locations, with maxima varying from 25C to 30C.

Sea breeze convergence formed heavy showers over Northland and a few thunderstorms.

There's an easterly change pushing in tomorrow which should reduce dewpoints to a more comfortable 15C in the north.

METAR from Auckland Airport at 3PM today:

NZAA 070200Z 21008KT 9999 FEW025 BKN030 26/22 Q1013 TEMPO 6000

SHRA =

Most unpleasant! But in Fiji it was 25/25 which is even worse!

[conor123]

Wow i cant even imagine how airless and muggy a 23c dewpoint would feel, i can imagine there some of the thunderstorms must of been intense with that amount of moisture in the atmosphere.

Not sure what the highest dewpoint ever recorded in the UK is, the highest ive recorded here is just over 20c.

Edited January 7, 2011 by conor123

[J07]

Wow i cant even imagine how airless and muggy a 23c dewpoint would feel, i can imagine there some of the thunderstorms must of been intense with that amount of moisture in the atmosphere.

Not sure what the highest dewpoint ever recorded in the UK is, the highest ive recorded here is just over 20c.

The TS weren't too impressive as the upper air was quite warm, and the convergence that they formed on shifted fairly quickly.

AFAIK, the highest dewpoint NZ has recorded is either 24C or 25C. Not sure about the UK. In the world, the record is 35C at Dharan in Saudi Arabia.

[J07]

More humid weather again, thanks to lows from the tropics. Even Wellington is getting it this time, but up north dewpoints of 23C and 24C are widespread today. It's 7PM in Wellington and 26/20:

NZWN 180600Z 35017KT 320V020 9999 FEW018 BKN028 26/20 Q0991

NOSIG =

NZWN 180500Z 35016KT 9999 FEW018 BKN028 26/21 Q0992 BECMG

01025G35KT =

NZWN 180400Z 35018KT 320V020 9999 FEW018 BKN028 26/22 Q0993 =

NZWN 180300Z 36021KT 9999 FEW018 BKN028 27/21 Q0994 NOSIG =

NZWN 180200Z 01023KT 9999 FEW014 BKN027 29/21 Q0995 TEMPO 6000

RA =

NZWN 180100Z 01020KT 9999 FEW011 BKN025 26/21 Q0996 TEMPO 6000

RA =

NZWN 180000Z 01021G31KT 9999 FEW011 BKN025 26/21 Q0998 =

A number of locations got highs of 31-33C today, with higher humidity than they would normally receive with such temperatures.

[Thundery wintry showers]

GFS outputs are suggesting some vigorous convective precipitation over the North Island and some sort of "northerly plume" bringing this heat and humidity- possible big thunderstorms later?

[forecaster]

GFS outputs are suggesting some vigorous convective precipitation over the North Island and some sort of "northerly plume" bringing this heat and humidity- possible big thunderstorms later?

Over the next few hours the air dries out with a SW change. It's 4:30AM here and still 27C in Napier, with a dewpoint of 19C.

[Kiwi]

Over the next few hours the air dries out with a SW change. It's 4:30AM here and still 27C in Napier, with a dewpoint of 19C.

Sounds unpleasant!! No wonder you're awake. What's the forecast like for today (Wednesday)?

[forecaster]

Sounds unpleasant!! No wonder you're awake. What's the forecast like for today (Wednesday)?

Oh I was in Wellington on night shift, so I had no choice but to be awake. It's just that at 4:30AM Napier had the highest temperature across the country.

Tuesday had the most awful conditions for sleeping during the day. We never really got any sun but still reached 29C, though it was the high dewpoints that caused problems.

But today the dewpoints are down to 11C, sunny all day long and a high of about 23C. A southerly change is due in the next few hours, so tomorrow is going to be very refreshing.

[J07]

Loads of rain up north with this low at the moment. As the warm front passed through Auckland the airmass changed significantly:

NZAA 222000Z 14017KT 2000 RA SCT015 BKN025 16/15 Q0996

NZAA 222300Z 03026G38KT 9999 RA SCT007 BKN010 23/22 Q0995

9AM followed by midday Metars.

[Kentish Kiwi]

Some amazing photo's on Weatherwatch, NZ Herald and Stuff today. Looks like a genuine (although relatively small-scale) storm surge went through. Can't remember seeing anything like that along the Waterfront or North-Western Motorway for the 12 years I lived in St Heliers. Although granted I probably only have memory from about 5 of those years...

Quotes from my cousin on Facebook who lives at Eastern beach, says its the first time they've seen it like that:

"So the motorway was closed because the waves were breaking on it. Huh, well it's a king tide tonight (extra high high tide) so a walk to the beach might be in order. Also, I have a photo on my phone of eastern beach showing how the waves have eroded the bank and almost took on of the chairs (and the cement block it is bolted to) into the ocean with it."

"Well, it's chaos down there, the whole grass bank is f****d, most of the trees will have fallen by morning [not so sure that's entirely true] and there's at least 4 benches in the ocean on concrete slabs.

The council will not be happy."

Insane rainfall warnings from the MetService two days ago, probably would have been looking at a record had it been the UK? -

"The state owned forecaster says Auckland can now expect between 150 and 250mm across much of the region. Earlier today they predicted 100 to 200mm.

Rainfall predictions for Coromandel Peninsula and Bay of Plenty are up to between 350 and 400mm."

Thankfully they were downgraded considerably, although I believe recordings of around 100mm was still relatively common? That amount of rainfall is incredible (400mm is significant anywhere in the world) and flooding surely would have been far worse and not just restricted to windward coastal areas if it had verified.

A few of articles about the event (with loads of photos):

http://weatherwatch.co.nz/content/photos-7-your-storm-photos

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10701630

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/4572485/Wet-wet-wet-but-worst-weather-over

A few of photos:

Pretty nice one of the storm surge and the ocean lapping across the road:

Normally a road:

KK.

[Kentish Kiwi]

Record heat (for a specific location) in New Zealand yesterday, with Timaru hitting 40.3C after hovering around 39C for most of the day (remarkably only two degrees below the 42C that Sydney recorded yesterday), beating its previous record of 39.7C from February 1973. All this is associated with the same heat that's been hitting Sydney and NSW, which mirrors the heatwave of 1973 almost to the day and with similar conditions. Sydney saw its hottest night on record at 27.6C which beats it previous record (also from 1973) by over a degree (26.6C).

The 40.3C isn't the hottest NZ nationwide has ever seen though, that goes to Rangiora & North Canterbury in the aforementioned 1973 heatwave, where temperatures climbed to a sizzling 42.4C.

Temperatures around, or just below, 30 were widespread in the upper North Island (significant due to the coastal proximity and high humidity), with mid to upper 30's relatively common along the east coasts of both islands. What was also particularly notable was that morning temperatures where significant - mid 30's by 10am in some locations according to unofficial stations - but conditions that unfolded throughout the day such as stubborn high cloud limited the ultimate high for the day.

A few news articles about the heat:

http://www.weatherwa...ks-record-books

http://www.nzherald....jectid=10704525

http://www.stuff.co....grees-in-Timaru

Unofficial reports:

http://www.weatherwa...t-where-you-are

Official daily highs across New Zealand:

http://www.weatherwa...-national-highs

In regards to the associated heat across Sydney:

http://www.weatherwa...d-long-heatwave

Edited February 6, 2011 by Kentish Kiwi