The storm was unusual. It was caused by a warm and cold front colliding which is typical for a winter snow storm but normally that will dump in one place and leave most of the country alone. This hit everywhere on the east coast south of Kaikora then pretty much missed everything on its way north west which is a direction a winter storm never travels in then nuked everything on the west coast of the north island from Otaki to northern Taranaki. We got a lot of rain in Wellington but not enough to call it horrid. Places between Wanganui and Stratford dont exist any more.
We knew there was going to be lots of snow down south. We knew the rest of the country was going to get a lot of rain. Not 100 year snowfalls in the south and 150 year rains in the north. Skifields are the only ones happy. Those that can get to their fields that is.
no weather is going to be unusual anymore, just like it was unheard of early in the year when such a massive cyclone came so far south.. the weather patterns are being rewritten.. all bets are off..
Bahahahaha ok @kreig I just finished your novel. holy crap all that and no tramping?? why didn't you head into the Mt Somers area, the alerts were up, the snow was there and a hard foreigner would be just the person to break the trail first of course from what i hear! hehe
Ok I laugh too about the 'how hard NZ is' old chestnut. But I do think theres need for a little geographical/meteorological lesson.
1. We are situated in the 'roaring forties' see wiki link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roaring_Forties
2. Our isolation between landmass means our weather has a maritime influence (similar to the british isles @madpom) this results in increased precipitation and also hampers forecasting.
3. The Mountainous terrain and its proximity to the open ocean result in micro climates. Look at how close the summits of Cook and Tasman are to the west coast.
4. UV radiation. Sunbathe here at your own risk haha
There are a few other factors too, but I can't think of them atm. The NZAC teach this stuff in their 'beginner alpine courses' I'm sure there people here who have done these...
btw they missed the forecast areas for that last dump by quite a bit, we had big warnings out in the southern lakes for the huge dump (and all the usual larks going on - empty shelves at the supermarket etc) but it hit canterbury instead!!
Its Nelson and Wellington where all bets are off always.
Nelson should have a wet west coast climate but often gets annual highest sunshine hours but it can also score highest daily rainfall. The last time it severly flooded the forecast was fine weather. 2 years before that almost to the day metservice had all the farms evacuated the roads closed in antisipation of a 1 in 200 year rain event and everyone went to the beach on the hottest day recorded in April on record.
Wellington does get more than its fair share of weather and is just as inluenced by the Cook straight and southern alps. Its no accident we have lots of wind farms but if a southerly comes from just the right angle it comes up the west coast of the south island travels out to sea then a wind eddy swirls back from around Paraparaumu so wellington gets a fine but cold northerly and the rest of the country gets lots of rain. To a lesser extent this happened in this storm and we just got a bad day. Unfortunately the opposite happened in May and all of Wellington got carpet bombed with rain. I spent a lot of the following day digging out our fire escapes
i grew up holidaying in nelson, its always had droughts, it comes down to the direction the weather fronts come from as to if it gets rain or not, most of the time kahurangi park soks up the rain before it hits nelson.
How did I know you were going to have a crack at that challenge Wayno? :D
Tip for young players; just because it hasn't rained in 6 weeks doesn't make it a drought...... :P
Thoroughly enjoyed reading about your 3 day adventure @Kreig. Laughed our heads off hubbie and me.
Kirwans will always be there, had a feeling it would be just wet over that side.
Go with the flow can have wonderful payoffs. Once had a full day to myself at Lake Rotoiti so planned to walk up St Arnaud Range via Parachute Rocks track. Yet I found myself driving around to the Mt Robert carpark… started walking up the Pinchgut track and bumped into this cool swiss biologist photographing flowers. She wasn't keen to walk much further on her own and was glad to have company. Spent a great day ambling along the Robert Ridge and finished off with a swim in the lake.
She visited me a few months later and we still keep in touch.
Instinct is marvellous, if only we took notice of it more.
Thanks Jet, glad you both enjoyed the read, and share my sentiments.
And you're right; if only I had listened to my instincts more I wouldn't be so beat-up and ugly.
Well, beat-up at least....! ;)
Tip for young players; just because it hasn't rained in 6 weeks doesn't make it a drought...... :P
In Westport that would be a drought so severe it would make national news
