I remember seeing something recently, maybe on RNZ, that June was twice as wet as normal. Has anyone else heard that?

MikeB4:

 

The Metservice and Niwa records show for 2017 for example.......

 

"Hamilton Airport (1271mm) was the highest January-September tally since records began in 1935."

 

"Ruakura (1234mm, records since 1905), Rotorua (1717mm, records began in 1963), and Taupo (1091mm, records since 1976)."

 

"It was the second wettest January - September period for Te Puke (2020mm, records since 1958), and the third wettest January -September period at Pukekohe (1271mm, records since 1986)."

 

Those reports always show new extremes for individual sites but that doesn't say anything about overall trends.

Human's traditionally talk about the weather when they don't have anything else to talk about.

The news services are talking about the weather more because they are reporting less actual news

The recent power cuts in Auckland were primarily caused not by the power lines blowing down, but by trees blowing down on the power lines. I feel this is due to people not adequately maintaining their trees, either because they are cash strapped or because it is un-green to chop up trees. 

Rikkitic:

 

I remember seeing something recently, maybe on RNZ, that June was twice as wet as normal. Has anyone else heard that?

 

Depends on where you were

"There was a striking difference between western and eastern areas in terms of rainfall for June. The northern and eastern North Island and northeastern South Island bore the brunt of numerous heavy rainfall events from the east. Much of this area received over one-and-a-half times their usual June rainfall, with over 200% of normal June rainfall recorded in some locations. In stark contrast, most of the remainder of the South Island, as well as Taranaki, experienced well below normal rainfall, with less than half of the usual June rainfall falling for much of the South Island. "

https://www.niwa.co.nz/sites/niwa.co.nz/files/Climate_Summary_June_2018_FINAL_0.pdf

Yeah personal/anecdotal observations are not the best source to try and assess trends - but there is always NIWA:

https://www.niwa.co.nz/climate/summaries

driller2000:

 

Yeah personal/anecdotal observations are not the best source to try and assess trends - but there is always NIWA:

 

https://www.niwa.co.nz/climate/summaries

 

 

Fair call. It just seems that way. Climate Change is what we all cling on to as a cause. Plus, climate change doesnt mean everyone gets warmer. Some get cooler, wetter, drier, depending how the extra heat and moisture affects any given location. 

It just seems to be wetter, and for the N.I, wilder these days. 

Have had minimal frost this year so far in Wellington. Maybe just two times I have had to clear my windscreen with water before rushing off to work. A few years ago it was nearly every single morning.

Unless the cold weather is still to arrive? But we are already past the shortest day now.

RogerThat:

Have had minimal frost this year so far in Wellington. Maybe just two times I have had to clear my windscreen with water before rushing off to work. A few years ago it was nearly every single morning.

Unless the cold weather is still to arrive? But we are already past the shortest day now.

tdgeek:

RogerThat:

 

Have had minimal frost this year so far in Wellington. Maybe just two times I have had to clear my windscreen with water before rushing off to work. A few years ago it was nearly every single morning.

 

 

 

Unless the cold weather is still to arrive? But we are already past the shortest day now.

 

Aug/Sept tend to be worse than middle of winter from a solar point of view, in chch at least

Maybe I did not pay enough attention during class? But surely the shortest day, is also the coldest day? And then after the coldest day, we start moving back towards the warmest day again.

RogerThat:

 

tdgeek:

RogerThat:

 

Have had minimal frost this year so far in Wellington. Maybe just two times I have had to clear my windscreen with water before rushing off to work. A few years ago it was nearly every single morning.

 

 

 

Unless the cold weather is still to arrive? But we are already past the shortest day now.

 

Aug/Sept tend to be worse than middle of winter from a solar point of view, in chch at least

 

Maybe I did not pay enough attention during class? But surely the shortest day, is also the coldest day? And then after the coldest day, we start moving back towards the warmest day again.

 

Shortest day may get the least sun but maybe not the coldest day as the earth's temperature has some inertia and therefore lags the solar capture. 

Plus the Earth axis may come into it? In Chch our worst weather is Aug/Sept, that's when any bas storms or snow falls are more likely to happen, which is well after the shortest day, and more or less midway between Winter and Spring. I guess local terrain come into that a little

tdgeek:

 

Plus the Earth axis may come into it? In Chch our worst weather is Aug/Sept, that's when any bas storms or snow falls are more likely to happen, which is well after the shortest day, and more or less midway between Winter and Spring. I guess local terrain come into that a little

 

Its the earths axis that provides our seasons. Frost occurs mostly on clear sky nights. The temperature on our rainy/cold/miserable nights does not dip much below 5-7 Degrees Celsius. Not low enough for a frost.

RogerThat:

 

Maybe I did not pay enough attention during class? But surely the shortest day, is also the coldest day? And then after the coldest day, we start moving back towards the warmest day again.

 

It would only be true if there were no storage effects:

• If the measured temperature represented everything that affected the temperature. It does not: air temperature does not cover ground temperature. In practice, as others have pointed out, the temperature is moderated by the energy stored in the ground and surface water.
• If the point of minimum energy input equated to the point of lowest temperature. It doesn't. Nor does the point of maximum input equate to the point with the highest temperature. You can observe this at home heating or cooling a pot of water.

There are many articles explaining this, e.g. https://www.insidescience.org/news/solstice-shmolstice-%E2%80%93-why-coldest-days-are-still-come

clevedon:

 

afe66: Mean while, people say "I couldn't live in deep south, the weather is terrible."

;-p

 

 

 

The very low winter temperatures are why I wouldn't live south of Canterbury.

 

Since there is a large land mass south of Canterbury, with areas that don't get as cold as parts of Canterbury, can you say what part you are actually talking about?