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A page for occasional musings, observations, and other weather-related stuff.......
8th Aug: The figures for July have now been posted on the Monthly Data page, and make interesting reading! The storm of the 30th July delivered 88.4mm of rain here in Puketapu, with the maximum rainfall rate reaching 54mm/hr at 12.23pm. The Tutaekuri River turned into a spectacular torrent, and slips and surface flooding caused widespread transport problems. Happily, the Bay was spared the high winds experienced in other areas, so housing damage and power outages didn't become major problems. 29th July: The weekend's storm really didn't affect the Bay that badly, but this next one probably will! Starting from this evening, we can expect persistent rain, with some heavier falls tomorrow, especially in the afternoon. This rain is falling on saturated ground, so the risk of slips and flooding is high. To add insult to injury, the rain will be driven along by gale force NE winds, which could reach damaging velocities in exposed areas. There is a distinct likelihood of power failures, so some early precautions might be a good idea! 27th July: Belatedly, the month's figures for June are now up on the relevant pages. I'll delay loading the July figures for a week or so, to allow time for site users to study June's data. 26th July: HB Weather is back to "normal", now that we have returned from an extended break overseas. Data has continued to roll in in the meantime, so the monthly figures for June will be posted this weekend. Other than three missed FTP updates to the Daily Summary page (caused by the inevitable connection hiccups), everything has worked very smoothly in our absence. The "team" at HB Weather thank you for your patience, and assure you that service is fully restored - with an interesting storm coming, too! 1st June: May's figures are now posted, and make rather interesting reading. Checking my records and the records for 1961-2001 from Nelson Park, May 2008 has set a new record for the coolest mean maximum temperature. Our average daily maximum for the month was just 13.7 C, reflecting a month of coolish afternoons. Interestingly, sunshine hours were pretty near normal. The other outstanding feature was our rainfall total for the month, a high 149.2mm here at Puketapu, and 243% of the expected norm! Wind speeds were a little below normal, with no particularly windy days. 15th April: This week looks like bringing us some worthwhile rainfall. Up to 0700 this morning, HB Weather has recorded 9.5mm, with more to come today. The most persistent rain looks like arriving on Thursday, as a frontal system slides down over the N Island. By Friday, though, it will probably be all over, with fine weather returning for the weekend. We shall see.......! 1st April: March's figures are now posted on the Monthly Data page - a reasonably "average" month, with slightly better than normal total rainfall, albeit arriving in widely separated bursts. The total rainfall here for the year to date is now very close to average, but the countryside is still very dry, reflecting the accumulative effects of the last few months. Windspeeds were generally down for the month, with several days of nearly completely calm conditions here at Puketapu. 1st March: The month's figures for February are now up on the Monthly Data page. It was a really rather average month in everything but rainfall - 62% of normal. That now makes 2 months in a row where our rainfall has been only about half the average amount. And the rain I forecast for today and this evening doesn't seem to be eventuating either. At least the Mission Concert crowd will be relieved! 3rd February: That same problem in the weather station software reappeared today, and went undetected until 1900. The software has now been erased and a fresh installation performed - so its wait and see, hoping that the "bug" doesn't reappear. A consequence of this is that the figures on the Daily Summary will look a little odd until Tuesday evening, as the software sorts itself out! The monthly figures for January are now up on the Monthly Data page. Temps were very near average, but rainfall was only half of our normal expectation for January. 2nd February: We're watching to the north, where a big white blob on the satellite images represents Tropical Cyclone "Gene". He's currently just SE of New Caledonia, and moving SSW, which puts him on a course into the northern Tasman over the next couple of days. Cooler sea-surface conditions there will probably cause the system to weaken and be downgraded to an extra-tropical depression, but it could stillbring us some weather! Watch this space.... 30th January: Oops! A little problem with the weather station software this evening meant no FTP upload to the Daily Summary page. The glitch seems to be fixed now, so tomorrow evening we'll be back to normal. Sorry 'bout that! 24th January: My apologies to anyone who got wet this morning. I hadn't forecast the drizzle and light rain we received - there was nothing on the rain radar at 0700. This is an example of "illegal rain", which is rain that hasn't been predicted, and arrives to turn forecasters' faces red! However, justice was served - I was out on my bike for a "get fit" ride, and got thoroughly soaked! 22nd January: Warmest day of the year so far. HB Weather recorded 31.3 C shade temperature at 15:27hrs. Temps stayed high right into the evening, with low-20s still lingering at 22:00. Fortunately, the gale-force nor'westerlies forecast failed to develop, but the wind was still very strong and gusty at times. Our best gust here hit 43kph, in the early afternoon. 19th January: An "interesting" looking low (ex TC "Funa") is heading toward NZ, and may bring some severe weather to the north of the country over the next few days. If it follows the track the models predict, it will pass to the west of NZ, meaning that the Bay will not feel the worst of its effects. Some welcome rain looks on the cards for us, though quantities may not be great. Watch the "Forecasts & Info" page for updates. 12th January 2008: A note for any technically-minded readers: today we installed a wireless modem system here at HB Weather. Its a Vodafone Vodem, and receives and transmits data via the VF mobile network. This means the HB Weather computer is now continuously connected to the internet, with no requirement to use the (VERY slow!) landline connection. At present we can only get GPRS connection speeds, but VF have promised an upgrade to our local cell tower about mid-year. This will allow us to connect at broadband speeds, via their 3G service. The advent of wireless connection means a more reliable access to weather information, with rather better speeds! 1st January 2008: I've posted the final figures for 2007 on the relevant pages of this website. It was a surprisingly "normal" year overall - the occasional extremes balancing each other out! Maximum temps were down a little early in the year, then recovered, and minimum temps were cooler at either end of the year. Winter ninimums in June and July were milder than normal. Rainfall showed the most variation - very dry in March and November, with a near-record dry May. Very wet conditions were recorded in June, July, and December. Sunshine hours were a little low in Jan, Feb, and December, and a little avove average in March, Oct and November. I suspect that 2008 will be another "interesting" year, weather-wise, with extreme events regularly capturing our attention, while annual temps and rainfalls continue to remain at near-normal levels. Watch this space.....! |
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